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I 


THE  WORLD 


BOSTON: 
G.    C.    RAND  — WM.  J,  REYNOLDS   .S^    CO. 


THE 


WORLD 


AND 


ITS  INHABITANTS. 

by 


BV  THE  AOTHOR  OF 


PETER  PARLEY'S   TALES. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED    BY    GEO.    C.   RAND,    CORNHILL. 

WM.  J.  REYNOLDS  AND  COMPANY. 

18  5  2. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,*9j\!lTj 

.„  the  jear  1845,  ^^(P 

By  S.  G.  fiiiODRICH,  i'th<i 

Id  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District 
Court  of  Massachusetta. 


PKESS   OF  GEORGE    C.    EA.ND   &    CO. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOK 

Introduction 5 

Astronomical  View  of  the  Earth      ...  8 

Geological  History  of  the  Earth          ...  17 

Geographical  View  of  the  Earth      ...  21 

Distribution  into  Land  and  Water             .        .  21 

Land  Surface  of  the  Globe     ....  25 

Continents    ........  25 

Mountains 26 

Islands 29 

Caverns 30 

Caves  of  America          ......  31 

Caves  in  Europe 32 

Natural  Bridges 34 

Plains,  35  ;  table  Lands,  36  ;  Deserts,  38 ;  Steppes, 

Pampas,  Karroos,  &c.,  39 ;  Valleys          .         .  40 

Water  Surface  of  the  Globe          ...  41 

llivers 43 

Table  of  Rivers 45 

(^•itaracts 46 

Description  of  Niagara  Falls    ....  51 

S|jriiigs          ........  62 

Table  of  Thermal  Waters        ....  65 

Lakes 66 

The  Ocean 69 

Tides,  71 ;  Currents,  74  ;  Waterspouts,       .        .  79 

Temperature  of  the  Sea             ....  80 

Saline  Property  of  the  Sea 82 

Pliosporesence  of  the  Sea          ....  86 

The  Color  of  the  Ocean 88 

Winds,  96;  Sea  and  Land  Breezes,  100;  Hurri- 
canes, 103 ;  Calms, 106 

The  Polar  Seas 109 

Waves 116 

Maritime  Discovery 117 

Utility  of  the  Ocean 123 


Q*. 


^^o 


CONTENTS. 


Climatology 

Meteorology  ....... 

The  Atinospliern,  131;  Dew,  133;  Clouds,  134  ; 
Rain,  iSleet,  Hail,  «fco.,  134;  Glaciers,  136; 
The  Rainbow,  137  ;  Looming,  &c., 

Aurora  liorcalis,  St.  Klnio's  Fire 

Fireballs,  Aerolites,  »tc.       .... 

Falling  Stars,  Local  Winds,  &.c. 
The  Vegetable  Kingdom       .        .        .        , 
The  Animal  Kingdom  .... 

General  Characteristics  of  Quadrupeds 

General  Remarks  on  Reptiles 

General  Remarks  on  Birds  ... 

Remarks  on  Fishes  .... 

Of  other  Orders  of  Animals 

Of  the  Physical  Character  of  Man    . 

Miscellaneous  Notes.  —  Oriain  of  the  different 
Races,  196;  Age  of  Man,  UW;  Stature  of  M:m 
200;  Weight  of  Man,  li03;  Strength  of  Man 
204  ;  Mental  Power  of  Man,  2U7  ;  Population 
210;  Habitations  of  Man,  214;  Food  of  Man 
215;  Prodigies,  220;  Voice  of  Man,  222  ;  Ven 
triloquism,222  ;  Sleep,  222 ;  Dreams,  226  ;  Soin 
nambulism,  Mesmerism    ..... 

Physical  Varieties  of  the  Human  Race     . 

General  Observations  on  the  three  Kingdoms 
Man  in  his  Social  and  B^oral  Character 

Grand  Divisions  and  Nations  of  the  Globe 


128 
131 


137 
138 
139 
140 
142 
161 
161 
16!) 
172 
179 
166 
192 


America,  2")0  ;  Europe,  251 ;  Africa,  252 
252 ;  Oceanica, 

Political  Institutions 

Religions      .... 
Superstitions         .... 

Scandinavian  Superstitions  . 

Anglo-Saxon  Superstitions 

Fairies  .... 

Witchcraft         .... 

Si)cctral  Illusions,  Ghosts,  Slc. 

Aliscellancous  Superstitions 

Manias  .... 

War 

Intoxicating  Drinks  and  Drugs 
Past  and  Present  Stat^  of  the  World 


Asia, 


233 

238 
244 
247 
250 

253 
253 
255 
260 
262 
266 
267 
271 
275 
277 
285 
287 
289 
300 


THE 


WORLD  AND  ITS  mHABITANTS. 


If  a  being  of  some  other  sphere,  gifted  with  the 
powers  of  traversing  the  regions  of  space,  should 
chance  to  meet  with  our  earth  in  one  of  his  trackless 
voyages,  we  may  suppose  that  he  would  pause  to 
contemplate  the  new  world  he  had  thus  discovered. 
Under  such  circumstances,  we  may  imagine  that  his 
attention  would  be  arrested  by  the  diurnal  revolution 
of  the  strange  planet,  and  the  wondrous  spectacles 
which  this  movement  would  unfold.  The  transition 
from  a  world  enveloped  in  darkness  and  slumber  and 
seeming  death,  to  a  world  of  life  and  beauty  and  ac- 
tion and  rejoicing,  could  not  fail  to  impress  the  be- 
holder with  curious  and  pleasing  wonder.  We  can 
easily  imagine,  that,  enchanted  with  the  scenes  dis- 
closed by  the  rising  of  the  sun  upon  the  earth,  he  would 
accompany  that  glorious  luminary,  at  least  for  a  single 
day,  and  thus  survey  the  various  regions  upon  whicli 
he  pours  his  beneficent  light,  and  heat,  and  power. 

Having  contemplated  these  sublime  phenomena,  we 
can  readily  believe  that  the  stranger  would  lift  his 
hands  and  heart  in  adoration  of  the  skill,  and  wisdom, 
and  goodness  of  that  Being,  who  had  thus  not  only  cre- 
ated a  sun,  but  a  world,  and  peopled  it  with  myriads  of 
1* 


(J  THE    WORLD    AND    ITS    INHABITANTS. 

living,  sentient  beings,  adapted  to  live,  and  weathe,  and 
rejoice  in  its  beams.  Under  such  circumstances,  the 
soul  of  the  voyager  would  not  be  chilled  with  atheistic 
doubts,  nor  could  his  mind  stumble  upon  the  appre- 
hension that  all  this  beautiful  machinery,  so  admirably 
adapted  to  useful  and  benign  ends,  could  be  the  work 
of  blind  accident  or  unthinking  chance.  His  mind 
enlightened,  his  bosom  elevated  by  the  glorious  view, 
he  would  as  readily  trace  in  its  results  the  evidence 
of  an  omnipotent  and  benignant  Designer,  as  if  he  had 
seen  him  at  his  work.  May  we  not  suppose  that, 
under  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  he  would  exclaim, 
"  Yonder  glorious  orb,  and  this  revolving  planet,  are 
indeed  wisely  adapted  to  each  other.  Upon  this  earth, 
which,  but  for  the  sun,  would  be  shrouded  in  ever- 
lasting darkness,  are  myriads  of  living  beings,  which 
could  not  live  without  its  light  and  heat ;  yet,  every  day, 
that  luminary  comes  to  bestow  these  blessings.  If  we 
see  benignant  care  in  a  parent  who  daily  provides  food 
for  his  children,  can  we  behold  an  inferior  degree  of 
beneficent  design  in  the  creation  of  myriad  races  to 
enjoy  light  and  heat,  and  the  provision  of  an  cxhaustless 
and  daily  returning  fountain  of  these  benefits  .'  " 

Such,  we  may  suppose,  would  be  the  impression 
made  upon  the  spirit-voyager,  who,  in  its  pathless  jour- 
ney, should  chance  to  discover  our  earth.  And  shall 
we,  tenants  of  this  planet  and  bound  to  the  common 
destiny  of  its  inhabitants,  take  a  humbler  or  less  philo- 
sophic view  of  the  theatre  in  which  we  make  our 
appearance  on  the  stage  of  immortal  existence !  Is  it 
not  fit  that  in  beginning  our  contemplation  of  the 
"  World  and  its  Inhabitants,"  we  should  start  with 
a  due  sense  of  the  sublimity  of  that  system  of  which 


THE    WORLD    AND    ITS    INHABITANTS.  7 

we  arc  a  part,  and  the  mighty  niacliincry  of  which  we 
have  ininds  to  coniprehciid  ?  And  let  us  not  fail  to  re- 
flect willi  due  sensihility  upon  the  fact,  that  such  pow- 
ers cannot  have  been  given  but  to  be  rightly  used ; 
hut  to  appreciate  and  feel  and  enjoy  the  works  of  God  ; 
to  acknowledge  his  goodness  ;  and  to  fulfil  his  purposes 
by  giving  the  utmost  growth  and  elevation  to  the  nobler 
endowments  of  our  nature  ! 

"  Our  globe,"  says  Turner,  "  consists  of  its  earthy 
structure,  —  of  the  etherial  fluids  which  move  upon  it 
and  above  it,  —  of  the  watery  masses  and  effusions, 
—  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, — and  of  the  animated 
races.  It  is  subject  to  the  potent  and  varied  agencies 
of  the  sun  and  moon.  It  rolls,  with  undisputed  and 
unsupported  freedom,  through  a  boundless  space  ;  and 
A  is  connected  by  immediate  relations  with  the  planets 
of  our  system  ;  more  remotely,  with  the  splendid  stars, 
whose  nature  and  numbers  we  have  not  yet  ascer- 
tained ;  and  occasionally,  at  intervals,  with  the  rapidly- 
moving  comets,  some  of  which  are  recurrent.  These 
rush  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  for  the  most  part, 
hito  our  visible  heavens,  by  laws  and  for  purposes  yet 
unknown ;  rather  advertising  us  of  their  existence, 
and  amazing  us  by  their  appearance,  than  exercising 
any  perceptible  effect,  or  imparting  any  knowledge 
of  their  composition,  of  the  causes  of  their  journey,  or 
of  the  places  from  which  they  come  and  to  which 
they  so  mysteriously  depart.  In  this  grand  system  of 
existence,  man  is  the  most  intelligent  being  that  is  vis- 
ible to  our  material  sense."  Regarding  our  earth  in 
this  light,  we  shall  proceed  to  consider  it  as  a  member 
of  the  solar  system,  and  of  the  great  brotherhood  of 
stars  with  which  it  is  so  wonderfully  allied. 


ASTRONOMICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.* 

\ 


The  earth  is  a  globe  or  ball,  depressed  at  the  poles, 
and  being  about  thirty-four  miles  more  in  diameter  at 
the  equator  than  at  its  axis.  By  its  diurnal  i-evolution, 
which  is  completed  in  about  twenty-four  hours,  we 
have  day  and  night,  and  by  its  annual  revolution,  per- 
formed in  about  365  days,  we  have  the  seasons  of 
spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter. 

The  surface  of  the  earth  is  diversified  by  land 
and  water ;  the  latter  predominates,  occupying  about 
148,000,000  out  of  200,000,000  square  miles,  con- 
tained in  the  entire  area  of  the  globe.  The  circumfer- 
ence of  the  earth  is  nearly  25,000  miles,  and  its  diam- 
eter about  8,000. 

The  earth  is  one  of  eleven  planets,  which  revolve 
around  the  sun,  as  their  centre.  Seven  of  them  — 
Mercury,  Mars,  Venus,  Ceres,  Pallas,  Juno,  and  Ves- 
ta—  are  smaller  than  the  earth,  and  three  —  Jupiter, 
oaf  urn,  and  Herschel  —  are  larger  than  the  earth. 

These  orbs  revolve  around  the  sun  at  different  dis- 

*  Our  design  is  here  to  present  only  a  popular  outline  of 
astronomy ;  for  a  more  detailed  view  of  the  subject,  see 
"Glance  at  the  Sciences." 


ASTSONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  9 

tances,  and  complete  their  diurnal  and  annual  revolu- 
tions at  different  periods.  They  all  move  in  the  same 
plane,  and  in  the  same  direction  ;  that  is,  from  west  to 
east  The  planets  are  of  different  densities,  the  sub- 
stance of  Mercury  being  as  hea\'y  as  lead,  and  that  of 
Jupiter  no  greater  than  that  of  cork.  Their  hght, 
derived  from  the  sun,  varies,  that  of  Mercurj-  being  sev- 
en times  as  great  as  that  of  the  earth,  and  that  of  Uranus 
or  Herschel  360  times  less.  The  planet  nearest  the 
sun  is  Mercurj-,  yet  its  distance  from  that  orb  is 
37,000,000  miles ;'  that  of  the  earth  95,000,000,  and 
that  of  Uranus  180,000,000.  Their  speed  in  passing 
through  their  orbits  is  various  ;  the  earth  flies  along  its 
track,  bearing  its  burden  of  oceans  and  continents,  at 
the  rate  of  1,000  miles  a  minute,  and  in  its  yearly 
journey  travels  the  distance  of  567,000,000  miles. 
The  balk  of  the  earth  is  so  great  as  to  ovenvhelm  the 
imarrination,  vet  Jupiter  is  1,400  times  larger,  and  the 
sun  1,300,000  times  larger. 

Several  of  the  planets  have  attendant  satellites,  of 
which  our  moon  is  an  example.  This  body  is  about 
240.000  miles  from  the  earth,  and  one  fiftieth  of  its  size. 
It  attends  the  earth  in  its  yearly  circuit,  and  revolves 
around  it  in  about  twenty-nine  days  and  a  half.  It  turns 
on  its  axis  in  the  same  time  the  earth  does,  and  v.nth 
such  precision  as  ahvavs  to  present  the  same  side  to  the 
earth.  The  moon  is  found,  by  the  astronomers,  to  pre- 
sent a  verv  rugged  surface  of  mountains  and  ^"al]eys, 
but  it  has  no  water,  and  little  or  no  atmosphere.  As 
far  as  known,  none  of  the  other  planets  have  satellites 
except  Jupiter,  which  has  four,  Uranus,  six,  and  Saturn, 
seven,  with  a  resplendent  double  ring. 


10  ASTRONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH. 

Besides  the  eleven  planets,  there  are  comets,  which 
appear  at  intervals  in  the  heavens,  and,  after  passing 
round  the  sun,  shoot  off  to  unknown  distances  in  the 
regions  of  space.  These  wandering  bodies  are  of  a 
gaseous  consistence,  and  are  usually  attended  by  lumi- 
nous trains,  millions  of  miles  in  length.  From  the 
earliest  ages  they  have  excited  the  wonder  of  mankind, 
and  in  the  darker  ages  of  the  world  have  excited  their 
superstitious  fears. 

Such  is  a  brief  view  of  the  planetary  system  ;  but  it 
is  now  generally  admitted  that  the  stars,  of  which  such 
multitudes  appear  in  the  sky,  are  each  a  sun,  around 
which  troops  of  attendant  planets  are  wheeling,  as  do 
ours  around  their  central  luminary.  There  are  about 
2,000  of  these  stars  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  but  the 
telescope  discloses  a  countless  swarm  of  these  occu- 
pants of  the  sea  of  space. 

By  the  investigations  of  the  two  Herschels,  the  heav- 
ens have  been  explored  in  all  directions,  and  the  result 
is  a  conviction,  that,  as  the  planets  are  parts  of  solar 
systems,  so  these  systems  are  themselves  parts  of  what 
may  be  called  a5^raZ  systems,  —  that  is  systems  com- 
posed of  suns  or  stai-s,  bearing  a  relation  to  each 
other.  The  astral  system  to  which  we  belong  is  called 
tlie  milky  way,  and  has  always  attracted  the  admiring 
gaze  of  mankind.  The  form  of  this  shoal  of  stars  is 
defined,  and  our  place  in  it  is  ascertained.  Though 
our  sun  seems  at  rest,  it  is  believed  to  be  moving  from 
west  to  east,  accompanied  by  the  other  suns  of  the  sys- 
tem, around  the  stupendous  ring  of  which  the  milky 
way  is  composed. 

Amazing  as  is  this  complication  of  suns  and  planets 


ASTRONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  11 

and  satellites,  we  have  still  entered  only  the  threshold 
of  the  heavens.  The  elder  Hcrschel,  directing  his 
wonderful  tube  towards  the  sides  of  our  system,  where 
stars  are  planted  most  rarely,  and  raising  the  powers 
of  the  instrument  to  the  required  pitch,  was  enabled, 
with  awe-struck  mind,  to  see  suspended  in  the  vast 
empyrean  other  astral  systems,  or,  as  he  called  them, 
firmaments,  resembling  our  own.  Appearing  hke  light 
clouds  to  a  certain  power  of  the  telescope,  they  re- 
solved themselves,  under  a  greater  power,  into  separate 
stars,  though  these  generally  seemed  no  larger  than  the 
finest  particles  of  diamond  dust.  The  general  forms  of 
these  systems  are  various ;  but  one  at  least  has  been 
detected  seeming  to  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
supposed  form  of  our  own.  The  distances  are  also 
various,  as  proved  by  the  different  degrees  of  telescopic 
power,  necessary  to  bring  them  into  view.  The  far- 
thest observed  by  the  astronomer  were  estimated  by 
him  as  thirty-five  thousand  times  more  remote  than 
Sirius,  supposing  that  to  be  about  twenty  thousand 
millions  of  miles  from  our  earth. 

Nor  are  even  these  amazing  firmamental  systems 
the  whole  of  the  revelations  unfolded  by  the  telescope. 
Within  our  own  astral  brotherhood,  and  generally  in  its 
outer  fields,  a  great  number  of  objects,  which,  from  their 
fogg)',  cloudlike  appearance,  are  called  nebulce^  have 
been  discovered.  These  are  of  various  forms  and  sizes. 
In  similar  regions  other  objects  are  discerned,  which 
appear  like  nuclei  with  nebulous  circles  around  ;  and 
still  others,  which  seem  like  stars  with  only  slight  burs 
encircling  them.  From  these  and  other  facts,  it  is 
concluded,  with  every  degree  of  probability,  that  thest 


12      ASTRONO:\nCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

are  materials  in  various  stages  of  progress  toward 
formation  into  stars,  —  and  that  we  may  hence  infer 
the  process  by  which  not  only  our  own  globe,  but  all 
other  worlds  are  formed. 

In  the  first  place,  we  suppose  matter  to  consist  of 
diffused  luminous  particles,  to  which  we  may  give  the 
name  oi fire  dust;  in  the  progress  of  ages,  these  par- 
ricles,  which  are  kept  asunder  by  the  heat,  are  grad- 
ually drawn  toward  each  other  by  gravitation,  at  the 
game  time  parting  whh  a  portion  of  their  heat.  Just  as 
the  particles  of  a  drop  of  water  arrange  themselves  in 
the  form  of  a  globe,  so  the  particles  of  this  subtler  fluid 
arrange  themselves  into  a  globular  form.  As  the  cur 
rent  of  particles  falls  constantly  upon  the  outer  edge 
they  give  the  mass  a  rotary  motion.  In  the  course  o) 
countless  centuries,  the  whole  mass  of  particles  is  con 
solidated,  and  the  new  sun  or  planet  is  formed,  and 
obedient  to  the  mandate  of  the  laws  of  the  universe  • 
takes  up  its  line  of  march,  and  thenceforward  performs 
its  mazy  evolutions  in  the  heavens  with  undcviating 
precision. 

Such  is  the  general  result  of  the  researches  of  as- 
tronomers. The  subject  opens  to  the  mind  a  spectacle 
of  overpowering  sublimity.  We  see  that  myriads  of 
worlds  are  formed  in  space,  and  that  others  are  at 
present  in  process  of  formation.  Of  the  relative  ages 
of  these  several  orbs  we  can  know  nothing,  but  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  that  our  own  planet  is  one  of  the 
younger  members  of  this  legion  of  worlds. 

The  amazing  distance  of  the  planets  from  each  oth- 
er, and  from  the  stars  that  stud  the  heavens,  might 
make  us  feel  that  an  impassable  gulf  separated  them 


ASTRONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH.  13 

and  us  for  ever,  and  excluded  the  possibility  of  the  re- 
motest sympathy  between  us  and  their  inhabitants  ;  but 
due  reflection  will  teach  us  to  feel  that  all  these 
systems  have  come  into  existence  by  the  command  of 
the  same  Creator,  and  through  tlie  operation  of  the 
same  laws.  If  we  consider  the  planets,  we  shall  notice 
that  there  is  a  regular  decrease  of  density  and  increase  of 
bulk  as  they  are  farther  from  the  sun.  In  respect  to  den- 
sity, if  we  take  water  as  the  standard,  and  count  it  as 
one,  we  shall  find  that  Saturn  is  ^f,  or  less  than  half; 
Jupiter,  1  j'^  ;  Mars,  3f  ;  Earth,  4^  ;  Venus,  5|i ;  Mer- 
cury, 9^^  ;  or  about  the  weight  of  lead.  Then  the  dis- 
tances are  curiouly  relative.  It  has  been  found  that  if 
we  place  the  following  line  of  numbers, 

0    3    6     12    24    48     96     192, 
and  add  4  to  each,  we  shall  have  a  series  denoting  the 
respective  distances  of  the   planets  from  the  sun.     It 
will  stand  thus  : 

4  7         10       16    28     52        100       196 

Mercury.   Venus.   Earth.   Mars.  Jupiter.   Saturn.   Uranus. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  the  first  row  of  figures  goes 
on,  from  the  second  on  the  left  hand,  in  a  succession  of 
duplications,  or  multiplications  by  two.  Surely  there 
is  here  a  most  surprising  proof  of  the  unity  of  the  solar 
system.  It  was  remarked,  when  this  curious  relation 
was  first  detected,  that  there  was  a  want  of  a  planet 
corresponding  to  twenty-eight ;  the  difficulty  was  after- 
wards considered  in  a  great  measure  overcome  by  the 
discovery  of  four  small  planets,  —  Ceres,  Pallas,  Juno, 
and  Vesta,  —  revolving  at  nearly  one  mean  distance 
from  the  sun,  between  Mars  and  Jupiter.  The  distan- 
ces bear  an  equally  interesting  mathematical  relation  to 
XX.— 2 


14  \STRONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

the  times  of  the  rcvokition  round  the  sun.  It  has  been 
found  that,  in  respect  to  any  two  planets,  the  squares 
of  the  times  of  revolution  are  to  each  other  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  cubes  of  their  mean  distances,  —  a 
most  surprising  result,  for  the  discovery  of  \vhicli  the 
world  was  indebted  to  the  illustrious  Kepler. 

While  we  thus  observe,  with  admiring  wonder,  the 
unity  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  different  members 
of  the  solar  system,  we  shall  find  our  amazement  in- 
creased if  we  extend  our  view  to  the  starry  systems 
beyond ;  for  we  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  the  same 
principles  appear  to  regulate  the  movements  of  those 
remoter  spheres.  Nor  are  these  independent  of  each 
other :  the  whole  are  linked  inextricably  together  in 
their  revolutions,  though  all  are  so  far  apart  and  so 
nicely  balanced,  that  each  may  perform  its  separate 
and  peculiar  functions.  Yet  the  laws  which  cause 
the  rotation  of  their  mighty  masses,  and  still  hold  them 
m  their  orbits,  is  exactly  the  same  which  produces 
the  familiar  phenomenon  of  a  small  whirlpool,  or  dimple 
in  the  surface  of  a  stream.  Such  dimples  are  not  al- 
ways single.  Upon  the  face  of  a  river  where  there 
are  various  contending  currents,  it  may  often  be  ob- 
served that  two  or  more  dimples  are  formed  near  each 
other,  with  more  or  less  regularity.  These  fantastic 
eddies,  which  the  musing  poet  will  sometimes  watch 
abstractedly  for  an  hour,  little  thinking  of  the  law 
which  produces  and  connects  them,  are  an  illustration 
of  the  wonders  of  the  double  and  triple  stars,  or 
binary  and  ternary  systems,  discovered  in  the  heavens. 

"  We  have  spoken  of  the  laws  which  govern  the 
liovemcnts   of  the  heavenly   bodies,  and  it   may   be 


ASTRONOMICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  15 

matter  of  interest  to  inquire  what  they  are.  All  that 
can  be  said  in  answer  is,  that  we  see  certain  natural 
events  proceeding  in  an  invariable  order  under  certain 
conditions,  and  thence  infer  the  existence  of  some 
fundamental  arrangement,  which,  for  the  bringing  about 
of  these  events,  has  a  force  and  certainty  of  action, 
similar  to,  but  more  precise  and  unerring  than,  those 
arrangements  which  human  society  makes  for  its  own 
benefit  and  calls  laws. 

"  It  is  remarkable  of  physical  laws,  that  we  see 
them  operating  on  every  kind  of  scale  as  to  magnitude 
with  the  same  regularity  and  perseverance.  The  tear 
that  falls  from  childhood's  cheek  is  globular,  through 
the  efficacy  of  the  same  law  of  mutual  attraction  of 
Darticles  which  made  the  sun  and  planets  round. 
The  rapidity  of  Mercury  is  greater  than  that  of  Sat- 
urn, for  tlie  same  reason  that  when  we  whirl  a  ball 
round  by  a  string,  and  make  the  string  wind  up  round 
our  fingers,  the  ball  always  flies  quicker  and  quicker  as 
the  string  is  shortened.  Two  eddies  in  a  stream,  as  has 
been  stated,  fall  into  a  mutual  revolution  at  the  distance 
of  a  couple  of  inches  through  the  same  cause  which 
makes  a  pair  of  suns  link  in  mutual  revolution  at  the 
distance  of  millions  of  miles. 

"  There  is,  we  might  say,  a  sublime  simplicity  in 
this  indifference,  in  these  grand  regulations,  to  the  vasl- 
ness  or  minuteness  of  their  operations.  Their  being 
uniform,  too,  throughout  space,  as  far  as  we  can 
scan  it,  and  their  being  so  unfailing  in  their  tendency 
to  operate,  provided  the  proper  conditions  are  pre- 
sented, afford  to  our  minds  matter  for  the  gravest 
consideration. 


16  ASTROXOMIC.AL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

"  Nor  should  it  escape  our  careful  notice,  that  the 
regulations  on  which  ail  the  laAvs  of  matter  operate 
are  established  on  a  rigidly  accurate  mathematical 
basis.  Proportions  of  number  and  geometrical  figures 
rest  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole.  All  these  considera- 
tions, when  the  mind  is  thoroughly  prepared  for  them, 
tend  to  raise  our  ideas  with  respect  to  the  character 
of  physical  laws,  even  though  we  do  not  go  a  single 
step  further  in  the  investigation.  But  it  is  impossible 
for  an  intelligent  mind  to  stop  there.  We  advance 
from  law  to  the  cause  of  law,  and  ask,  What  is  that .-' 
Whence  have  come  all  these  beautiful  regulations.^ 
Here  science  leaves  us,  but  only  to  conclude,  from 
other  grounds,  that  there  is  a  First  Cause,  to  which  all 
others  are  secondary  and  ministrative,  a  primitive  Al- 
mighty Will,  of  which  these  laws  are  merely  the  man- 
dates. That  great  Being,  —  who  shall  say  where  is  his 
dwelling-place,  or  what  his  history !  Man  pauses 
breathless  at  the  contemplation  of  a  subject  so  much 
above  his  finite  faculties,  and  only  can  wonder  and 
adore ! " 


GEOLOGICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  EARTH.* 


Geology  is  the  natural  history  of  the  earth,  as 
gathered  from  an  examination  of  its  mineral  masses. 
While  other  sciences  are  wi-itten  on  paper,  this  is  re- 
corded in  the  Stone  Book,  of  Avhich  the  eternal  rocks 
are  the  leaves.  We  depend  not  here  upon  human  tes- 
timony ;  but  we  delve  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and, 
gathering  the  bones  and  relics  which  have  there  been 
sepulchred  for  ages,  we  question  these  and  record 
their  wondrous  revelations. 

Astronomy  teaches  us,  that  the  materials  of  our  solar 
system  were  originally  in  a  fluid  or  gaseous  state.  As 
the  sun  was  in  process  of  formation,  from  time  to  time 
it  threw  off  fragments,  which  were  condensed  into  plan- 
ets. Our  earth  was  one  of  these,  and  it  was  thus  cre- 
ated, doubtless  by  an  operation  which  extended  through 
millions  of  ages. 

Ir.  its  original  condition,  we  suppose  the  earth  to 
have  been  a  molten  mass,  and  to  have  gradually  har- 
dened as  it  cooled.  While  its  outer  surface  thus 
became  solid  rock,  it  is  supposed  that  the  interior 
continued  to  be  in  a  state  of  fusion,  and  remains  in 
that  condition  to  the  present  day.  This  curious  theoiy 
is  strongly  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  as  we  descend 

*  For   a   fuller  view  of  tiiis  subject,  see  "  Wonders  of  Geol- 
Q  2* 


18  GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    EARTH. 

into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  though  we  depart  from  the 
sun,  the  heat  still  constantly  increases. 

In  the  process  of  cooling,  we  suppose  that  mighty 
rifts  took  place  in  the  surface  of  the  earth,  thus 
throwing  up  immense  mountains,  perhaps  a  hundred 
miles  in  height,  and  excavating  deep  corresponding  val- 
leys. This  conjecture  acquires  plausibility  from  the 
fact,  that  geological  researches  seem  to  prove  that  there 
were  seas,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  a  hundred 
miles  in  depth.  At  this  period,  it  seems  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  earth  was  not  very  unlike  that  of  the  moon, 
which  now  presents  a  rugged  surface,  without  water, 
where  steep,  angular  mountains  rise  to  a  dizzy  elevation, 
and  cast  their  gloomy  shadows  over  the  grisly  ravines 
which  yawn  at  their  feet.  It  may  be  that  the  moon,  now 
destitute  of  those  elements  which  seem  essential  to  life, 
may  still  be  in  progress  toward  a  period  when  its  hol- 
lows will  be  filled  with  seas,  and  the  soil  be  formed  in 
which  vegetation  may  spring  up,  and  provision  thus  be 
made  for  animal  life. 

The  surface  of  the  earth  has  been  explored  to  such 
a  depth,  that  it  is  ascertained  to  consist  of  two  great 
classes  of  rocks  :  —  First,  those  of  a  crystalline  char- 
acter, of  which  granite  is  the  type,  and  which  seem  to 
have  been  formed  by  fire.  These  are  called  primary, 
as  having  been  first  formed,  and  are  supposed  to  be  the 
platform  on  which  all  the  other  rocks  and  materials  of 
the  globe  rest.  SecoJid,  those  of  a  stratified  character, 
and  which  appear  to  have  been  formed  by  gradual 
deposits  in  water.  The  latter  originally  must  have 
been  laid  level  and  horizontally ;  but  uneasy  movements 
from  below  have  broken  them  up,  and  placed  them  in 
every  variety  of  position.     Thus  we  find,  all  over  the 


GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    EARTH.  19 

world,  these  two'  great  classes  of  rocks  tumbled  togeth- 
er, though  the  latter  are,  in  the  maui,  laid  above  and 
upon  tlie  others. 

The  two  great  agencies  which  have  produced  tliese 
phenomena  are  supi)oscd  to  be  fire  and  water:  the 
former  operating,  in  the  form  of  earthquakes  and  volca- 
noes, to  disturb  the  rocky  fabric  of  the  earth,  and  the 
latter,  by  frost,  rain,  rivers,  and  seas,  to  disintegrate,  by 
slow  degrees,  the  original  rocks,  and  deposit  new  ones 
in  the  vales  below. 

By  exploring  the  mineral  masses  of  the  earth,  it  has 
been  discovered  that  some  of  these  contain  the  bones, 
and  other  fossil  remains  of  animals  and  vegetables,  now 
extinct.  This  curious  fact  has  stimulated  inquiry,  and 
led  to  the  most  surprising  results.  It  appears  that  in 
the  igneous  or  primary  rocks,  none  of  these  are  found ; 
but  they  become  more  or  less  abundant  as  we  approach 
or  recede  from  the  surface  of  the  earth.  In  the  lower 
stratified  or  water-formed  rocks,  many  of  which  are 
of  limestone,  few  of  these  organic  remains  are  discov- 
ered, and  these  chiefly  consist  of  zoophytes  and  algge, 
the  lowest  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life. 

As  we  ascend,  and  explore  the  rocks  above  them, 
which  are  called  the  old  red  sandsLone  system,  we  find 
the  remains  of  fishes,  of  various  forms,  together  with 
the  zoophytes  before  mentioned,  but  as  yet  no  land 
animals  had  existence,  for  there  was  no  dry  land.  If 
we  now  explore  the  rocks  of  the  next  period,  that 
of  the  carhoniferous  system,  we  shall  discover  the 
remains  of  various  land  animals,  and  a  great  variety  of 
new  species  of  plants.  The  trees  of  this  period  were 
leafless  and  flowerless,  but  they  were  luxuriant  beyond 
any  thing  now  known  upon   the  earth,  and  seemed  to 


20  GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    EAETH. 

indicate  a  climate  over  the  whole  earth  much  hotter  and 
moister  than  that  of  the  present  tropics.  This  rank 
vegetation  is  supposed  to  have  furnished  the  materials 
ibr  the  vast  coal  beds  now  found  in  every  quarter  of 
the  globe. 

The  new  red  sandstone  lies  above  the  carboniferous 
rocks,  and  hi  this  we  find  new  races  of  animals,  particu- 
larly various  species  of  lizards,  and  of  which  no  type  had 
before  appeared  on  the  earth.  Reptiles,  of  strange  forms 
and  gigantic  proportions,  some  endowed  with  the  fish's 
paddle,  and  others  with  the  bird's  wing,  teemed  in  the 
waters,  or  haunted  the   fens,  of  this  wondrous  period. 

In  the  strata  of  a  still  more  recent  formation,  called 
the  oolitic  period,  we  begin  to  find  the  first  traces  of 
the  great  class  of  mammalia,  or  sucking  animals,  which 
constitutes  the  mass  of  our  four-footed  beasts.  As  we 
rise  still  higher,  and  advance  to  the  later  or  alluvial 
formations  of  the  earth's  surface,  we  see  constantly  new 
races  of  animals  appearing  upon  the  theatre  of  life, 
until  at  last  man,  and  the  races  associated  with  him, 
together  with  the  vegetation  of  our  own  time,  occupies 
and  possesses  the  earth. 

Thus  we  read  the  "earth's  history  of  itself," — a 
wondrous  record,  and  leading  to  many  momentous  in- 
ferences. It  teaches  us  that  our  curious  chronology, 
which  assigns  to  the  earth  but  an  existence  of  6,000 
years,  is  incorrect,  and  that  our  planet  has  doubtless 
rolled  through  its  orbit  for  myriads  of  ages,  gradually 
advancing  in  development,  until  it  was  prepared  to  be 
the  habitation  of  man,  when,  according  to  the  Mosaic 
record,  man  appeared  upon  the  stage  of  action,  and, 
according  to  divine  appointment,  became  the  lord  of 
creation. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.* 


DISTRIBUTION  INTO  LAND  AND  WATER. 

When  we  cast  our  eyes  over  an  artificial  globe,  we 
see  that  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  divided  into  two 
principal  masses  of  land,  which  we  call  continents,  and 
great  cavities,  filled  with  water,  which  we  call  seas.  As 
in  the  parts  covered  with  water  we  observe  small  mass- 
es of  land  whose  surfaces  rise  above  it,  which  we  name 
islands,  so  are  there  upon  the  continents  small  detach- 
ed spots  covered  with  water,  which  we  call  lakes.  An 
island  differs  from  a  continent  only  in  its  dimensions. 

Many  portions  of  the  land  and  of  the  sea  extend  recip- 
rocally the  one  into  the  other.  If  the  sea  penetrate  into 
the  interior  of  any  continent,  it  forms  then  a  mediterra- 
nean, or  inland  sea,  surrounded  almost  on  all  sides  by 
land,  and  having  only  a  narrow  opening  into  the  ocean. 
If  the  extent  of  such  seas  be  less,  and  the  opening  larg- 
er, they  are  called  gulfs  or  bays.  The  still  smaller  por- 
tions of  sea,  surrounded  as  it  were  by  land,  and  which  af- 
ford a  shelter  for  ships,  are  called  ports,  creeks,  or  roads. 

*  For  a  geological  view  ofllie  earth,  see  "Wonders  of  Geol- 
ogy," and  for  Meteorology,  see  "A  Glance  at  the  Physical  Sci- 
ences." 


22       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

The  first  term  means  a  secure  asylum ;  the  second  is 
applied  to  places  or  ports  of  much  smaller  size,  which, 
when  im])roved  or  comjileted  by  artificial  aid,  are  styled 
harbours,  and  the  roads  afTord  only  a  temporary  anchor- 
age and  security  from  certain  winds. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  parts  of  the  continents  shoot 
into  the  seas,  and  are  connected  with  the  main  land  by 
only  a  small  portion  of  their  circumference,  they  are 
named  peninsulas,  whose  figures  often  correspond  with 
those  of  gulfs  and  inland  seas. 

If  the  projections  of  land  reach  but  a  little  way  into 
the  sea,  they  are  called  capes,  proviontories,  or  simply 
points.  A  natural  canal,  communicating  with  the  sea  at 
both  ends,  and  confined  by  two  opposite  shores,  is  called 
a  strait ;  the  reverse  is  an  isthmus,  that  is,  a  tongue  of 
land  running  between  two  seas,  and  by  which  two 
greater  masses  of  land  are  united.  Many  other  terms 
of  a  similar  kind  are  used  in  geographical  description, 
but  it  is  unnecessary  to  notice  them  here. 

If  we  consider  the  surface  of  the  globe  under  one 
general  view,  we  perceive  that  it  consists  of  one  vast 
ocean,  in  which  a  great  number  of  islands  are  placed 
whose  size  varies  from  that  of  the  most  colossal  to  the 
most  minute.  Two  of  these  islands  are  termed  conti- 
nents ;  that  which  is  inhabited  by  the  oldest  civilized 
nations  is  called  the  old  continent,  and  contains  three 
divisions  of  the  world,  namely,  Asia,  Europe,  and  Africa, 
while  the  whole  of  the  new  continent  is  comprised  under 
the  name  of  America,  though  nature  has  divided  it  into 
two  distinct  peninsulas,  one  of  which  ought,  in  strict 
historical  justice,  to  be  called  Columbia.  In  the  midst 
of  the  most  extensive  mass  of  waters  is  placed  New 


GEOGKAPIIICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.  23 

Holland,  which  many  geograplicrs  call  a  third  ci-ntinent, 
allhongh  it  is  perhaps  more  correct  to  consider  it  as  by 
far  the  largest  island  in  existence. 

When  we  find  a  considerable  number  of  islands 
grouped  together,  we  give  the  name  of  archipelago  to 
the  whole.  The  vast  archipelago  which  extends  to  the 
east  of  the  ancient  continent,  and  in  the  centre  of  which 
New  Holland  rises  majestically,  seems  worthy  of  being 
considered  as  a  new  division  of  the  world,  which  we 
shall  distinguish  by  the  name  of  Oceanica. 

There  is  upon  our  globe,  properly  speaking,  only  one 
sea,  —  one  continuous  fluid,  spread  round  the  land,  and 
which  probably  extends  from  one  pole  to  the  other, 
covering  nearly  three  fourths  of  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
All  the  gulfs,  all  the  inland  seas,  form  only  portions  de- 
tached, but  not  entirely  separated,  from  that  universal 
sea,  which  we  call  the  ocean.  It  is  only  for  the  sake  of 
greater  convenience  that  we  distinguish  difl^erent  parts 
of  the  ocean  under  the  name  of  seas.  These  may 
be  classed  in  the  following  manner,  the  propriety  of 
which  may  be  easily  seen  by  glancing  at  a  map  of  the 
world. 

I.  The  great  Southeast rr7i  Basin,  the  waters  of  which 
cover  nearly  half  the  globe,  includes, — 

1.  The  Pacific  Ocrav,  11,000  miles  in  length  from 
east  to  west,  and  8,000  in  breadth,  occupying  a  super- 
ficial space  rather  larger  than  the  whole  mass  of  the 
dry  land.  It  extends  from  Behring's  Straits  on  the 
north  to  a  line  drawn  from  Cape  Horn  to  "Van  Diemen's 
Land  on  the  south  ;  and  from  America  on  the  east  to  Asia, 
Malaysia,  and  Australia  on  the  west.  In  consequence  of 
the  wide  expanse  of  its  surface,  it  is  remarkably  exempt 


24       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

from  storms,  except  near  ils  mountainous  shores,  and 
hence  its  name.  It  is  often,  also,  called  the  South 
Sea. 

2.  The  Indian  Ocean,  lying  between  Africa  on  the 
west  and  Malaysia  and  Australia  on  the  east,  and  between 
Asia  on  the  north  and  a  line  drawn  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  to  Van  Diennen's  Land  on  the  south,  is 
about  4,500  miles  in  length  and  breadth  ;  it  covers  a 
surface  of  about  17,000,000  scjuare  miles. 

3.  The  Southern  or  Antarctic  Ocean  surrounds  the 
south  pole,  lying  to  the  south  of  a  line  drawn  quite  round 
the  globe  from  Cape  Horn,  along  the  southern  extremity 
of  New  Zealand,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and  Africa, 
iDack  to  tlie  point  of  starting.  It  embraces  an  area  of 
30,000,000  square  miles.  It  is  generally  covered  with 
floating  ice  as  far  north  as  60^  S.  Lat.,  and  in  higher  lat- 
itudes appears  to  be  almost  blocked  up  by  an  impenetra- 
ole  barrier  of  fixed  ice.  Recently  land  has  been  dis- 
covered here,  which  is  supposed  to  be  an  Antarctic 
continent. 

II.  The  Western  Basin  forms  a  channel  between 
the  eastern  and  western  continents,  and  washes  their 
northern  shores.     It  includes, — 

1.  The  Atlantic  Ocean,  stretching  from  the  Southern 
Ocean  to  the  Arctic  circle ;  it  is  about  8,500  miles  in 
length,  varying  much  in  breadth,  and  it  covers  an  area  of 
25,000,000  square  miles. 

2.  The  Arctic  Ocetin,  surrounding  the  north  pole ; 
it  is  in  part  covered  yith  impenetrable  fields  of  perpetual 
ice,  and  it  contains  large  masses  of  land  of  unknown 
extent.  It  is  often  called  the  Icy  or  Frozen  Ocean,  or 
Polar  Sea. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    V^IEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  25 

Although  it  presents  to  tlic  eye  only  the  image  of  a 
watery  waste,  the  ocean  sustains  an  important  part  in 
the  economy  of  nature.  It  is  the  fountain  of  those  vapors 
which  replenish  the  rivers  and  lakes,  and  dispense  fer- 
tility to  the  soil.  By  its  action  on  the  atmosphere,  it 
tempers  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  It  affords  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  food  and  of  salt,  a  substance 
hardly  less  important.  As  the  great  highway  of  com- 
merce, it  connects  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  globe, 
affording  facilities  of  intercourse  to  nations  the  most  re- 
mole  from  each  other. 


LAND  SURFACE  OF  THE  GLOBE. 

In  a  general  survey  of  the  globe,  we  are  struck  with 
the  great  preponderance  of  land  on  the  northern  side  of 
the  equator.  Of  the  two  great  continents,  only  two 
small  projections  extend  into  the  southern  hemisphere. 
This  unequalled  distribution  is  in  some  degree  compen- 
sated by  the  great  island  of  Australia,  and  the  Antarctic 
continent  recently  discovered,  which  is  supposed  to  ex- 
tend entirely  around  the  south  pole. 

Continents.  —  The  Eastern  and  Western  continents 
present  a  remarkable  similarity  in  the  direction  of  their 
great  promontories  and  peninsulas  ;  nearly  all  having  a 
soutlu^ riy  projection.  This  is  the  ease  with  South  Amer 
ica,California,  Alaska, Greenland,  Acadia,  and  Florida, 
with  Scandinavia,  Italy,  Greece,  Arabia,  Indir,  Corea, 
Kamtschatka,  and  Africa.  The  two  exceptions  to  this 
are  the  peninsulas  of  Yucatan  and  Jutland,  which 
XX.— 3 


26       GEOGRAFHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Stretch  towards  the  north.  These,  however,  are  only 
alluvial  plains  of  a  moderate  extent. 

In  respect  to  the  couhguration  of  the  two  contli.ents, 
there  is,  however,  a  striking  ditFerence.  The  ancient 
world  is  in  almost  every  part  open  to  the  advances  of  the 
ocean,  and  from  Behring's  Straits  to  those  of  Babehnandel 
on  the  one  side,  and  to  those  of  Gibraltar  on  the  other,  the 
bays,  gulfs,  inland  seas,  (Sec,  are  as  it  were  in  a  sort  of 
equilibrium,  at  least  with  respect  to  numbers;  while 
the  mass  of  Africa  is  not  penetrated  by  one  single  arm 
of  the  sea.  The  new  continent,  on  the  contrary,  having 
only  one  considerable  gulf,  that  of  California,  on  its 
western  shore,  presents,  on  the  opposite  coast,  a  chain 
of  gulfs  and  inland  seas  ;  when  these  are  wanting,  some 
immense  river  is  found  to  supply  the  link. 

Mountains.  —  Among  the  most  remarkable  features 
of  the  land  surface  of  the  globe  are  mountains.  These 
in  their  exterior  forms  present  some  varieties  which 
strike  even  the  most  inattentive  obsener.  The  highest 
elevations  frequently  present  a  surface  of  naked  rock ; 
but  the  nature  of  this  produces  varieties  in  their  outline 
and  aspect ;  here  they  shoot  up  in  the  form  of  enormous 
crystals,  with  sharp  angles  heaped  up  and  supported  by 
each  other;  in  another  part,  vast  and  elevated  masses 
are  crowned  with  circular  summits,  which  rise  into  the 
air  with  less  boldness.  Sometimes  there  appcai-s  an 
immense  steep  and  abrupt  surface,  which  lays  open  to 
view,  as  it  were,  the  entrails  of  the  mountain  itself. 
We  describe  these  appearances  under  the  name  of 
needles,  peaks,  teeth,  horns,  domes,  breaches. 

Next  in  order  to  these  broken  and  steep  summits,  we 
see  mountains  the  forms  of  which  bear  a  character  of 


GEOGIIAI'HICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  27 

.ranquillity,  an  iiidlcalion  of  tlicirslow  and  successive 
fonnation  ;  tliesc  mountains,  which  are  still  considerable, 
formed  by  strata  or  layers  variously  inclined,  generally 
exhibit  an  infinite  variety  of  forms,  in  consequence  of 
the  changes  to  which,  fi'om  numberless  causes,  ihey 
have  been  subjected.  In  one  place,  a  vast  amphitheatre 
is  seen  rising  in  majestic  and  regular  gradation,  like  the 
Kinncgulia,  in  West  Gothland.  In  another,  there  is  a 
large  mass  cut  perpendicularly,  and  presenting  the  form 
of  an  altar,  like  the  Table  Moutitain  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  There  are  mountains  in  China,  which  have  the 
appearance  of  a  head  of  a  dragon,  a  tiger,  or  a  bear.  In 
other  places,  you  see  a  labyrinth  of  rocks  rising  like  pil- 
lars, as  at  Adersbach  in  Bohemia,  or  in  one  single  mass, 
in  the  form  of  a  large  ninepin,  as  Monte  Aiguille,  in  the 
province  of  Dauphine.  We  see  some  also  near  Euvi- 
onne  in  the  Valois,  which  recall  the  figure  of  the  old 
French  frizzled  wigs.  But  the  most  common  appear- 
ances are  those  formed  by  layers  of  stones,  in  an  un- 
dulated or  furrowed  shape. 

Afier  these  mountains  of  the  second  rank,  we  find 
hills,  more  or  less  lofty,  which  on  all  sides  present  to 
the  eye  but  little  elevation  and  a  gentle  declivity. 
These  hills,  furrowed  by  streams  of  running  water, 
often  gradually  slope  away,  and  at  last  lose  them- 
selves in  the  plains.  Sometimes,  their  sides  are  so 
rugged  and  precipitous  as  to  produce  on  the  mnid 
almost  all  the  picturesque  effects  of  high  mountains. 

The  peaks  or  higher  parts  of  mountains  formed  by 
volcanic  agency  differ  very  much  from  the  usual  shape. 
Their  conical  or  pyramidal  masses  are  distinguished  by 
their  regularity,  even  when  they  have  been  broken  off 


28       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

or  truncated  by  some  accidental  cause.  Their  towering 
summits  seem  to  menace  the  neighbouring  country. 
The  basaltic  mountains  also  present  an  appearance  not 
less  striking  when  they  are  not  covered  and  concealed 
by  other  soil.  Their  sides  display  to  the  view  close 
ranges  of  immense  pillars  or  causeways,  which  seem 
to  be  the  productions  of  giants. 

Single  detached  elevations  of  great  height  are  rare, 
but  mountains  are  generally  found  in  lofty  bands, 
consisting  either  of  one  central  chain,  with  branches 
rurming  off  at  right  angles,  or  of  several  chains  or 
ridges  running  parallel  to  each  other ;  and,  in  both 
cases,  often  accompanied  by  subordinate  chains  of  a 
smaller  elevation.  A  group  of  mountains  is  a  collec- 
tion of  several  chains  ;  a  system  of  mountains  is  a  col- 
lection of  gi'oups. 

The  iTiost  general  view  of  mountain  systems  shows 
us  a  vast  mountainous  zone  almost  completely  sur- 
rounding the  basin  of  the  great  Pacific  Ocean ;  rising 
from  the  southern  extremity  of  South  America,  the 
lofty  rampart  of  the  Andes  extends  along  the  western 
coast  of  the  American  continent,  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  sea,  through  a  length  of  9,000  miles,  and, 
sweeping  round  in  a  semicircle  through  Asia,  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  same  great  barrier,  under  the  var'ous 
names  of  the  Altai,  Himalaya,  and  Taurus,  crrAvns 
the  summit  of  the  declivity  down  which  the  great 
Asiatic  rivers  descend  into  the  ocean.  The  Caucasian, 
the  Carpathian,  and  the  Alpine  chains,  are  a  prolonga- 
tion through  Euro[)e  of  the  colossal  girdle. 

The  following  is  the  height  of  the  loftiest  peaks  in 
the  different  quarters  of  the  globe. 


GEOGKAPIIIC^L    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH.  29 

South  Amciica,  (Andes,  Ncvado  de  Sorato,)  "25,400 

North  America,  (Mt.  St.  Elias,)     .  .  17,970 

Europe,  (Mont  Blanc,)       ....  15,733 

Africa,  (Abyssinian  I\Iountains,)     .         .  14,720 

Asia,  (Himalaya,) 28,000 

Oceanica,     .         .       ".         .         .         .  15,125 

In  the  benevolent  purposes  of  Providence,  these  great 
elevations  of  the  earth's  surface  are  made  subservient 
to  the  well-being  of  the  animal  creation.  Rising  into 
regions  of  perpetual  ice,  they  serve  in  hot  climates  to 
cool  the  burning  air,  and  to  fan  the  panting  inhabitants 
with  refreshing  breezes;  they  are  the  reservoirs  of 
rivers,  supjilying  their  shrinking  streams  in  the  dry 
seasons  of  the  lower  countries  with  copious  torrents 
from  the  melting  snows ;  they  are  the  storehouses  of 
the  richest  minerals ;  they  increase  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  and  give  diversity  and  richness  to  its  vegetable 
products ;  and  how  often  have  they  not  served  to  stay 
the  march  of  the  conqueror,  and  to  shelter  in  their 
fastnesses  the  last  champions  of  freedom  ! 

Islands.  —  The  Eastern  and  Western  continents 
are,  strictly  speaking,  two  great  islands,  washed  on  all 
sides  by  the  ocean ;  but,  setting  these  aside  under  the 
name  of  continents,  we  generally  restrict  the  np[)lica- 
tion  of  the  term  islands  to  smaller  masses  of  land  lying 
in  the  midst  of  seas  or  lakes. 

Islands  are  sometimes  detached,  but  oftener  collected 
into  groups  or  archipelagos  ;  in  some  cases  they  are  little 
more  than  low  sand-banks,  ledges  of  rocks,  or  coral 
reefs,  and  in  others,  rising  to  a  considerable  elevation 
above  the  surface  of  the  water,  and,  spreading  to  a  con- 
•6* 


30      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

siderable  extent,  they  present  in  miniature  \\\  the 
features  of  the  eonlincnis,  —  hills,  valleys,  plaii)  lakes, 
streams,  &c. 

They  are  often  the  summits  of  submarine  m<  <ntain- 
ous  chains,  and  as  such  arc  intimately  connecte  '  with 
each  other,  and  with  the  neighbouring  contino  ••'  •,  in 
general,  they  are  considered  as  appendages  to  tho  -<.-^r- 
est  main  land.  Many  of  them  are  evidently  th&'  i>»o- 
duction  of  submarine  volcanoes,  which  heave  tho»*  ivP 
from  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  and  fertilize  their  surface 
by  the  matter  ejected  from  their  bowels. 

The  largest  islands  of  the  globe  are  Borneo,  New 
Guinea  or  Papua,  Greenland,  Sumatra,  Madagascar, 
Niphon,  Cuba,  Great  Britain,  &c. 

Caverns. — Caves  or  grottos  are  cavities  of  greater 
or  less  extent,  which  have  been  formed  by  different  causes 
in  the  crust  of  the  earth.  They  are  either  open  to  day, 
or  are  more  or  less  completely  concealed  in  the  interior 
of  the  earth. 

There  are  many  different  modes  in  which  these 
wonders  of  nature  are  formed.  Those  in  limestone 
and  gypsum  appear  to  have  been  produced  by  the  dis- 
solving power  of  water,  which  has  thus  hollowed  out 
the  rock,  and  carried  off  the  dissolved  materials.  Those 
in  lava  and  trachyte  are  produced  by  the  expansive 
power  of  gases  or  vapors,  operating  upon  the  rocky 
mass  in  a  state  of  fusion,  or  softened  by  heat.  Others 
are  the  effect  of  rents  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  occasion- 
ed by  earthquakes. 

Stalactites  and  stalagmites  are  formed  by  the  filtra- 
tion of  water  containing  calcareous  matter  through  the 
pores   or  fissures  in  the  roofs  of  limestone   caverns. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      31 

When  the  water  deposits  its  hme,  as  it  drops  from  the 
roof  of  the  cavern,  it  forms  long  rods  of  btone,  hanging 
down  hke  icicles,  which  are  called  stalactites;  but 
when  the  water  falls  to  the  floor,  or  trickles  down  the 
sides  of  tlie  cavern,  the  calcareous  crust  formed  by  its 
evajjoration  is  called  a  stalagmite.  The  masses  thus 
produced,  whether  pendent  from  the  roofs  or  rising 
from  the  floor,  often  assume  shapes  resembling  objects 
of  nature  or  art,  and  frequently  give  the  cavern  a  highly 
brilliant  appearance. 

Caves  of  America.  —  The  cave  of  Guacharo,  near 
Caripe,  in  Venezuela,  is  so  called  from  the  vast  flocks 
of  nocturnal  birds  of  that  name  which  frequent  it,  and 
which  are  killed  in  great  numbers  for  their  fat.  It  is 
85  feet  broad  and  77  high  at  its  opening,  and  preserves 
these  dimensions  for  the  distance  of  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile.  A  river  issues  from  it,  but  it  has  never  been 
explored. 

Near  the  Duida  Mountain,  in  the  valley  of  the  Ori- 
noco, there  is  the  vast  cave  of  Ataruipe,  remarkable  as 
containing  the  skeletons  of  an  extinct  tribe  of  natives, 
and  urns  filled  with  bones,  which  have  been  prepared 
by  drying  in  the  sun,  or  by  being  besmeared  with 
resins  or  some  coloring  matter. 

Nickojack  Cave,  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Georgia, 
which  is  50  feet  high  by  100  wide,  and  is  traversed'by 
a  stream  of  considerable  size,  has  been  explored  to  the 
distance  of  three  miles. 

Wyer's  Cave,  in  Virginia,  contains  a  series  of  large 
halls  extending  for  the  distance  of  half  a  mile,  and 
adorned  with  glittering  stalactites. 

Mammoth  Cave,  in  Edmonson  county,  Kentucky,  is 


32  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

one  of  the  largest  that  has  been  discovered  ;  it  extends 
ten  or  twelve  miles,  containing  a  great  number  ol'  long 
passages  and  vast  halls  ;  one  ol"  these,  called  the  Te.nple, 
IS  said  to  be  eight  acres  in  extent,  witli  a  roof  lUU  feet 
high,  unsupported  by  a  single  pillar ;  from  this  numerous 
avenues  lead  to  several  other  apartments  little  inferior 
in  size.  A  large  hotel  has  been  built  in  this  wonder- 
ful cave,  and  sixty  persons  sometimes  may  be  seen 
dining  there.* 

Caves  in  Europe.  —  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
these  is  Fingal's  Cave,  in  the  island  of  StafT'a.  Its 
entrance,  66  feet  high  by  42  wide,  leads  into  a  natural 
hall  about  200  feet  in  length,  which  is  bounded  on  all 
sides  by  regular  columns  of  basalt.  It  was  not  dis- 
covered till  1772. 

The  Peak  Cavern,  near  Castleton,  Derbyshire,  Eng- 
land, is  a  huge  gulf,  42  feet  high  and  120  feet 
long,  at  the  foot  of  perpendicular  cliffs  of  amazing 
heiglit.  Thence  the  visiter  is  conducted  through  a 
succession  of  dark,  cavernous  apartments,  and  ferried 
along  a  subterraneous  river,  above  which  the  rocks 
are  so  close,  that  he  is  obliged  to  lie  flat  on  his  face. 
This  terminates  at  the  distance  of  about  2,000  feet. 

Poole's  Hole,  near  Buxton,  is  chiefly  remarkable 
for  the  large  masses  of  stalactite  and  other  petrifac- 
tions with  which  it  is  fllled.  It  derives  its  name 
from  its  having  been  the  retreat  of  a  famous  robber 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Bauman'.r.s  Cave,  in  the  Hartz  Mountains,  consists  of 
a  series  of  rooms,  six  in  number,  having  a  total  length 

*  For  a  full  description  of  this  and  other  caves,  see  "  Wondere 
of  Geology." 


GEOGRAPHICAL   VIEW    OF   THE    EARTH.  33 

of  760  feet ;  and  in  the  same  region  is  Biel's  Hole, 
formed  of  fifteen  apartments,  650  feet  in  length. 

Near  Grenoble,  in  France,  is  the  cave  of  our  Lady 
of  Bahne,  composed  of  several  apartments,  glitter 
ing  with  stalactites,  resounding  with  cascades,  and 
containing  a  subterranean  lake  which  the  visiter  crosses 
by  the  glare  of  torches. 

Among  the  thousand  caves  found  in  the  mountains 
of  the  Austrian  kingdom  of  lUyria,  the  Adclsberg  is 
the  most  remarkable.  It  is  stated  to  be  five  miles  in 
length  ;  it  is  a  perfect  labyrinth,  composed  of  long, 
steep,  and  winding  passages,  terminating  in  lofty  and 
spacious  apartments,  decorated  with  stalactites  of  the 
most  fantastic  and  picturesque  groupings,  traversed 
by  a  boisterous  toiTent,  whose  tumultuous  roarings 
are  repeated  by  the  echoes  of  the  vaults,  and  contain- 
ing great  quantities  of  organic  remains.  Magdalen's 
Cave,  in  the  vicinity,  is  less  extensive  but  more  lofty, 
and  its  stalactites  resemble  colossal  caryatides,  sus- 
taining high  arches. 

The  Grotto  del  Cane,  or  Dog's  Cave,  near  Naples, 
is  a  small  aperture,  deriving  its  interest  from  the 
exhalations  which  issue  from  it,  strongly  impregnated 
with  carbonic  acid  gas.  It  is  usual  to  plunge  a  dog 
into  this  suffocating  air  for  the  amusement  of  visiters ; 
on  being  withdrawn,  the  animal,  which  had  become 
apparently  lifeless,  immediately  recovers  its  powers. 

The  cave  of  Trophonius  was  celebrated  among 
the  ancients  for  its  oracle ;  it  was  a  small,  deep  hole, 
in  Boeotia,  down  which  the  person  consulting  the 
oracle  was  obliged  to  descend,  and  in  which  he  was 
subjected  to  a  number  of  fatiguing  and  terrifying 
3 


34      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

rites ,  as  he  usually  returned  pule  and  dejected,  it 
became  a  proverbial  expression  in  regard  to  a  melan- 
choly person,  "  He  has  just  come  from  the  cave  of 
Trophonius." 

The  celebrated  grotto  of  Antiparos,  in  one  of  the 
Grecian  islands,  is  a  spacious  cave  350  feet  long, 
325  broad,  and  about  175  high,  situated  at  the  bottom 
of  a  succession  of  steep,  winding  galleries,  near 
1,500  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Colossal 
pillars  of  crystallized  alabaster  rise  from  the  floor 
to  the  roof,  and  stalactites  of  the  same  substance 
hang  like  huge  icicles  from  the  roof,  decorated  with 
festoons,  curtains,  &c.,  of  shining  white  rock  and  glitter- 
ing crj'stals. 

Natural  Bridges.  —  Akin  to  these  natural  saloons, 
and  often  accompanying  them,  are  the  natural  bridges 
formed  by  solid  arches  stretching  over  chasms,  or  by 
large  masses  of  rock,  which,  having  fallen  into  a  cleft, 
have  been  arrested  in  the  descent  by  the  narrowness  of 
the  fissure,  and  have  thus  bridged  over  the  otherwise  im- 
passable gulf. 

The  most  remarkable  of  these  are  the  natural  bridges 
of  Icononzo,  near  Bogota,  in  New  Grenada ;  that  of 
Rumichaca,  near  Pasto  ;  that  of  the  Ay,  in  Cuba  ;  that 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  in  Mexico  ;  the  celebrated  Rock 
Bridge  of  Virginia ;  the  natural  bridge  of  Veja,  near 
Verona,  &c. 

The  bridges  of  Icononzo  extend  over  a  crevice, 
at  the  bottom  of  which  flows  the  torrent  of  Summa 
Paz ;  the  upper  bridge  is  a  natural  arch,  40  feet  broad 
by  50  long,  318  feet  above  the  stream;  the  lower 
is  64  feet  beneath  this,  and  is  formed  of  three  enormous 
blocks,  which  have  fallen  so  as  to  support  each  other. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       35 

The  Natural  Bridge  ofVirginia  is  60  feet  wide,  90 
long,  and  250  high,  from  the  bottom  of  the  fissure 
over  wliich  it  extends. 

Plains.  —  We  give  tlie  name  of  plains  to  extensive 
tracts,  whose  surface  is  in  the  main  level,  or  but  slightly 
broken  by  gently  swelling  and  subsiding  eminences, 
or  by  inconsiderable  and  almost  imperceptible  de- 
pressions. They  are  found  at  all  degrees  of  eleva- 
tion above  the  sea,  and  of  every  stage  of  fertility,  from 
the  inexhaustible  fecundity  of  the  Egyptian  Delta  to 
the  irreclaimable  sterility  of  the  sandy  deserts. 

America  contains  several  vast  plains.  One  of  these 
extends  from  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Sea  to  those  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  AUeghanies  ;  it  embraces  the  valleys  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Nelson,  the  Churchill, 
and  most  of  those  of  the  Missouri,  the  Mackenzie,  and 
the  Coppermine,  including  an  area  of  3.240,000  square 
miles.  Another  great  plain  comprises  the  central  part 
of  South  America,  extending  over  an  area  of  3,000,000 
square  miles,  including  more  than  half  of  Brazil,  the 
southern  part  of  New  Grenada,  the  eastern  part  of 
Ecuador  and  Peru,  and  the  northern  part  of  Bolivia; 
its  moist  and  warm  climate  clothes  it  with  a  pomp 
and  vigor  of  vegetation  nowhere  equalled.  The  plain 
of  the  Plata,  extending  from  the  mountains  of  Brazil 
to  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  comprehends  the  whole  of 
the  southern  part  of  South  America  east  of  the  Andes, 
with  an  area  of  1,620,000  square  miles.  The  plain 
of  the  Orinoco,  including  the  region  extending  from 
the  Caqueta  to  the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco,  has  an  area 
of  350,000  square  miles.     These  two  are  distinguished 


36      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

from  the  great  plain  of  the  Amazons  by  the  absence 
of  trees,  and  the  wide  grassy  tracts  which  cover  their 
surface. 

The  most  extensive  plain  on  the  surface  of  the  globe 
is  the  vast  tract  stretching  from  the  shores  of  the  North 
Sea  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  broken  only  by  the 
Ural  Mountains.  It  has  an  average  breadth  of  1,400 
miles,  and  a  length  of  6,000,  comprehending  an  area 
of  6,500,000  square  miles.  It  comprises  large  heaths, 
sandy  deserts,  and  steppes,  or  open  pastures,  but  has 
few  considerable  forests. 

Table  Lands.  —  Table  lands,  or  plateaux,  are  ele- 
vated plains,  forming  in  some  instances  the  nucleus 
of  the  great  masses  of  land  above  the  general  surface 
of  which  they  rise.  They  often  contain  chains  of 
mountains,  plains,  and  valleys,  and  their  declivities 
present  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  low  countries  at  their 
feet  the  appearance  of  a  long  chain  of  mountains. 
The  whole  of  Central  Africa  is  supposed  to  be  a  vast 
table  land,  descending  by  successive  terraces  towards 
the  coasts  on  all  sides. 

The  interior  of  Asia  is  composed  of  a  succession 
of  these  lofty  plains,  among  which  the  following  are 
the  most  remarkable ;  the  Persian  table  land  com- 
prises nearly  all  the  country  south  of  the  Caspian  and 
Black  Seas,  from  Asia  Minor  to  the  Indus,  including 
Armenia,  Georgia,  Curdistan,  Persia,  Afghanistan, 
&c. ;  this  region  is  from  2,500  to  6,000  feet  above  the 
sea ;  Zungaria  and  the  adjacent  region  is  from  2,000 
to  2,500  high ;  Mongolia  lies  at  an  elevation  of  from 
8,000  to  12,000  feet,  and  Thibet  is  still  more  elevated. 

There  are  some  masses  of  this  kind  in  Europe,  but 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      37 

of  less  extent ;  the  central  part  of  Spain  is  a  lofty 
plain  of  about  2,200  feet  in  height,  and  between  the 
Alps  and  the  Jura  is  the  Swiss  table  land,  about  3,500 
feet  high. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  masses  is  the 
Mexican  table  land,  not  less  extraordinaiy  for  its  extent 
than  its  elevation.  On  the  eastern  and  western  coasts 
are  low  countries,  from  which,  on  journeying  into  the 
interior,  you  immediately  begin  to  ascend,  climbing  to 
all  appearance  a  succession  of  lofty  mountains.  But 
the  whole  interior  is  in  fact  thus  raised  into  the  air 
from  4,000  to  8,000  feet.  This  conformation  of  the 
country  has  most  important  moral  and  physical  results; 
for  while  it  gives  to  the  table  land,  on  which  the  popu- 
lation is  chiefly  concentrated,  a  mild,  temperate,  and 
healthy  climate,  unknown  in  the  burning  and  deadly 
tracts  of  low  country  into  which  a  day's  journey  may 
carry  the  traveller,  it  also  shuts  out  the  former  from 
an  easy  communication  with  the  sea,  and  thus  deprives 
it  of  ready  access  to  a  market  for  its  agi'icultural  pro* 
ductions.  Carriages  pass  without  difficulty  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  table  land  for  hundi-eds  of  miles,  from  Mexi- 
co to  Santa  Fe,  but  can  descend  to  the  eastern  and 
western  coasts  only  at  a  few  points. 

A  large  part  of  New  Grenada  and  Ecuador  is 
situated  at  an  elevation  of  from  5,000  to  9,000  feet, 
and  contains  populous  cities,  such  as  Quito,  Bogota, 
&c.,  8,000  or  10,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Another  of  these  table  lands  includes  an  extensive 

tract  in  Peru,   Bolivia,  and   the   States  of  the  Plata, 

stretching  from  6°  to  26°  S.  Lat.,  and  raised  above  the 

sea  to  the  height  of  from  4,000  to  10,000  and  even 

XX. — 4 


38  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

12,000  feet.  These  three  great  plateaux  were  each 
the  centre  of  a  native  American  civilization  at  the 
time  of  the  discovery  of  the  continent. 

Deserts.  —  Deserts  are  tracts  of  greater  or  less 
extent,  utterly  sterile,  and  incapable  of  supporting 
vegetable  matter  or  animal  life.  These  frightful  soli- 
tudes, destitute  of  water  or  verdure,  present  plains  of 
sand  or  shingle,  interspersed  with  not  less  barren  and 
arid  heights,  and  exhibiting  no  indications  of  animated 
beings.  In  some,  parched  by  a  scorching  sun,  burning 
winds,  charged  whh  poisonous  exhalations,  and  col- 
umns of  moving  sands,  add  to  the  horrors  of  the  scene. 
Even  these  desert  regions  are,  however,  generally  in- 
terspersed here  and  there  with  little  fertile  tracts,  ris- 
ing like  green  islands  out  of  the  sandy  ocean,  well 
watered  and  well  wooded,  and  affording  shade  and  re- 
freshment to  the  exhausted  traveller  ;  these  spots  are 
called  oases  or  wadies. 

The  most  extensive  of  these  desert  tracts  is  the 
great  sandy  zone  which  stretches  from  the  Atlanl^ic 
Ocean  across  Africa  and  Central  Asia  nearly  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  or  to  120°  E.  Lon.  It  includes  nearly 
one  fourth  of  the  eastern  continent  through  which  it 
passes,  covering  an  area  of  6,500,000  square  miles. 
Sahara  or  the  Great  Desert  of  Africa,  Arabia,  and  the 
plateaux  of  Persia  and  Thibet,  present  the  most  con- 
tinued surface  of  sand. 

America  is  characterized  by  an  almost  entire  ab- 
sence of  deserts,  ami  it  has  been  estimated  that,  al- 
though its  surface  is  less  than  half  of  that  of  the  Old 
World  in  extent,  it  contains  at  least  an  equal  quantity 
of  useful  soil.     The  only  true  sandy  deserts  are  that 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       39 

of  Atacama,  a  belt  of  sand  extending,  with  considera- 
ble interruptions,  from  the  northern  part  of  Peru  to 
Copiapo  in  Chili,  a  distance  of  about  1,700  miles,  with 
a  width  of  from  ten  to  fifty  ;  and  the  Desert  of  Pernam- 
buco  which  is  also  an  arid  waste  of  sand  ;  but  other 
tracts  to  which  this  name  has  been  applied  are,  though 
incapable  of  culture,  yet  not  destitute  of  vegetation. 

Steppes,  Pampas,  Karroos,  &c. — The  surface  of 
the  earth  contains  several  extensive  tracts,  which,  al- 
though possessing  a  productive  soil,  are  yettin  their 
natural  state  entirely  destitute  of  trees,  and  in  general 
spread  out  into  wide,  unbroken  plains.  Such  are  the 
extensive  open  pastures  of  the  great  plain  of  Northern 
Europe  and  Asia,  called  steppes,  the  jungles  of  India, 
the  karroos  of  Southern  Africa,  the  prairies  of  North 
America,  the  llanos  and  pampas  of  South  America, 
and  the  heaths  of  Europe. 

While  the  whole  Atlantic  slope  of  North  America 
south  of  the  St.  Lawi-ence,  and  the  region  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  were  naturally  covered  with  a  dense 
forest,  the  great  plain  before  described  formed  what 
Darby  calls  the  grassy  or  prairie  section,  consisting 
chiefly  of  unwooded,  but  fertile  plains,  covered  with 
a  rich  herbage,  and  affording  immense  natural  pastures, 
though  occasionally  degenerating  into  bare  and  arid 
wastes.  An  extensive  tract  of  several  hundred  miles 
in  w'idth,  on  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  ap- 
proaches to  the  character  of  a  desert,  and  much  of 
the  northern  part  of  the  continent  exhibits  the  same 
features. 

In  Venezuela,  the  wide  plains  called  llanos  are  foi 
half  the  year  covered  with  a  luxuriant  verdure,  bu 


40  GEOGKAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

during  the  dry  season  become  parched  and  burned  so 
as  to  resemble  sterile  wildernesses. 

The  pampas,  which  occupy  a  large  part  of  the 
plain  of  the  Plata,  are  dotted  here  and  there  with  palm 
groves,  and  in  some  places  are  overgrown  with  thistles, 
or  incrustcd  with  salt ;  but  for  the  most  part  they  are  cov- 
ered with  rich  herbage,  feeding  countless  herds  of  cattle 

Some  of  the  steppes  of  Asia  are  merely  sandy 
plains,  bearing  a  few  stunted  shrubs,  and  exhibiting 
only  occasional  spots  of  verdure ;  others  are  covered 
with  herbage,  and  afford  good  pasturage  for  the  nu- 
merous herds  of  the  pastoral  tribes  that  roam  through 
them ;  others  bear  saline  and  succulent  plants,  or  are 
coated  with  saline  incrustations. 

The  karroos  of  Southern  Africa  are  tracts  of  arid 
clay-land,  bearing  some  succulent  plants,  but  the  mea- 
gre vegetation  which  clothes  them  with  green,  and 
adorns  them  with  flowers,  during  the  rainy  season,  dis- 
appears during  the  heats  of  summer,  giving  the  coun- 
try the  aspect  of  a  parched  and  barren  plain. 

The  jungles  of  India  are  tracts  covered  with  dense 
and  impenetrable  masses  of  vegetation,  crowded  and 
twined  together,  consisting  of  thorny  and  prickly  shrubs 
of  every  size  and  shape,  canes,  ^\■hich  in  a  few  months 
shoot  up  to  the  height  of  sixty  feet,  and  creeping 
plants  and  bushes,  and  forming  impassable  barriers 
even  to  an  army. 

Valleys.  —  Valleys  are  the  spaces  lying  between 
opposite  ridges  of  mountains  or  hills,  and  their  lowest 
part  is  commonly  the  bed  of  some  torrent  or  river, 
which  has  its  sources  in  the  higher  grounds.  Those 
between  high  mountains  are  in  general  narrow  and 
long,  resembling  large  clefts  or  fissures. 


GEOGFxAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  41 

Some  valleys,  lying  between  opposite  mountainous 
chains,  are  of  great  extent,  comprising  whole  prov- 
inces or  countries.  Such  are  the  great  valleys  of  the 
Ganges  in  Asia,  and  of  the  Mississippi  in  North  Amer- 
i';a.  Some  are  situated  far  above  the  level  of  the 
ocean,  although  sunk  deep  below  that  of  the  adjoining 
country.  Such  are  those  of  Chota,  near  Quito,  which 
is  5,000  feet  deep,  and  of  Rio  Catacu,  in  Peru,  which 
is  4,000.  Boolan,  Thibet,  and  Nepaul,  are  deep  valleys 
of  Asia.  Those  of  the  Po,  of  Savoy,  the  Tyrol,  &c., 
in  Europe,  are  of  less  extent. 


WATER  SURFACE  OF  THE  GLOBE. 

Any  definition  of  this  element  is  unnecessary ;  but 
mankind  must  have  remarked,  at  a  very  early  period, 
that  the  waters  distributed  over  the  globe  differ  con- 
siderably in  their  fitness  for  drinking,  for  preparing 
food,  and  for  other  domestic  purposes.  These  dif- 
ferences are  occasioned  by  the  foreign  bodies  which 
this  liquid  holds  in  a  state  of  solution  or  suspension ; 
for  water  is  capable  of  dissolving  a  greater  number 
of  substances  than  any  other  fluid.  Hence,  it  is  scarce- 
ly ever  found  native  in  a  state  of  absolute  purity ;  in 
some  cases  the  quantity  of  foreign  matter  is  so  minute 
as  to  have  little  influence  on  the  taste,  or  other  prop- 
erties ;  but  in  other  instances,  they  are  so  abundant 
as  to  render  it  unfit  for  common  use,  or  even  noxious ; 
while,  at  other  times,  it  is  medicinal,  according  to 
4* 


42       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  nature  of  the  substances  Avilh  which  it  is  impreg- 
narcd.  Native  water,  free  from  color,  is  almost  never 
poisonous,  especially  if  it  be  at  the  same  thne  tasteless  ; 
but  if  blue  from  copper,  green  from  iron,  or  brown 
from  vegetable  impregnation,  it  is  unfit  for  the  use  of 
man.  Water  performs  the  most  important  functions  in 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  and  enters  largely 
into  their  compositions  as  a  constituent  part. 

This  substance  presents  itself  under  three  different 
forms  of  aggregation.  If  under  sufficient  pressure,  it  is 
liquid  at  all  temperatures  above  32°,  so  far  as  is  known. 
It  is  the  densest  at  the  temperature  of  40°.  When 
cooled  down  to  32°,  it  ordinarily  assumes  the  form  of 
ice ;  but  if  great  care  be  taken  to  avoid  agitation,  it 
.  may  be  cooled  almost  to  zero  without  freezing.  Con- 
gelation commences  in  the  form  of  prismatic  crystals, 
crossing  each  other  at  angles  of  60°  or  120°,  and  the 
temperature,  however  low  before,  instantly  rises  to  32°. 
During  this  process,  the  water  expands  with  a  prodi- 
gious force,  the  volume  suddenly  increasing  about  a 
ninth  part.  Glass  bottles  filled  with  water,  and  properly 
stopped,  are  burst  during  its  congelation,  and  the  same 
has  happened  to  a  strong  bomb-shell.  Water  passes 
into  vapor  at  all  temperatures,  and  under  any  pressure  ; 
when  the  elasticity  of  the  vapor  equals  or  exceeds  the 
incumbent  pressure,  the  process  proceeds  with  violence, 
and  is  called  boiling.  Under  the  ordinary  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere,  this  takes  place  at  about  212°  of  Fah- 
renheit's scale  ;  but  the  boiling  temperature  varies  with 
the  pressure  ;  hence  water  boils  at  a  lower  temperature 
on  a  mountain  top,  and  at  a  higher  in  a  deep  pit. 

The  relations  of  water  to  heat  are  very  remarkable. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH.  43 

With  the  exception  of  hydrogen  gas,  it  absorbs  more 
heat  in  warming,  and  parts  with  more  in  cooling,  tliau 
otlicr  bodies  do.  Hence  large  bodies  of  water  have  a 
powerful  influence  in  checking  or  retarding  sudden 
alterations  of  temperature  in  the  surrounding  air.  Ice, 
in  melting,  absorbs  as  much  heat  as  would  raise  its 
temperature  140°,  and  gives  out  the  like  quantity  again 
in  freezing,  —  a  property  that  enables  it  to  resist 
or  retard  sudden  alterations  of  temperature  in  cold 
climates  in  a  more  remarkable  degree  than  the  other ; 
which,  however,  exerts  its  influence  in  the  torrid  and 
temperate,  as  well  as  in  the  frigid  zone.  Lastly,  watei", 
in  assuming  the  elastic  form,  absorbs  heat  sufi'icient  to 
raise  its  temperature  1000°,  and  parts  with  as  much 
in  recondensing  into  water ;  so  that  water  possesses 
an  almost  boundless  influence  in  tempering  climate. 

Water,  as  to  its  composition,  v/as  long  ranked 
among  the  simple  elements  ;  but  the  researches  of  mod-, 
ern  chemistry  have  ascertained  that  it  is  a  compound 
of  88.9  parts  of  oxygen,  and  11.1  of  hydrogen ;  or  its 
composition  by  volume  and  weight  may  be  thus  stated : 
one  volume  of  oxygen  combined  with  two  of  hydrogen, 
or  eight  parts  by  weight  of  oxygen  with  one  of  hydro- 
gen. It  is  composed  and  decomposed,  during  many 
of  the  operations  of  nature,  and  its  chemical  agency  is 
almost  universal.  It  is  an  ingredient  in  most  bodies 
which  appear  under  the  crystalline  form. 

Rivers.  —  The  origin  and  progress  of  rivers  h:.ve 
been  compared  by  Pliny  to  the  life  of  man.  "  Its 
beginnings  are  insignificant,  and  its  infancy  is  frivo- 
lous ;  it  plays  among  the  flowers  of  a  meadow,  it  waters 
a  garden,  or  turns  a  mill.      Gathering  strength  in  its 


44      GEOGKAPniCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

youth,  it  becomes  wild  and  impetuous.  Impatient  of 
the  restraints  which  it  still  meets  with  in  the  hollows  of 
the  mountains,  it  is  restless  and  fretful,  quick  in  its 
turning,  and  unsteady  in  its  course.  Now  it  is  a  roar- 
ing cataract,  tearing  up  and  overturning  whatever 
opposes  its  progress,  and  it  shoots  headlong  down  a 
rock;  then  it  becomes  a  sullen,  gloomy  pool,  buried 
m  the  bottom  of  a  glen.  Recovering  breath  by  repose, 
It  again  dashes  along,  till,  tired  of  uproar  and  mischief, 
It  quits  all  that  it  has  swept  along,  and  leaves  the  open- 
ing of  the  valley  strewed  with  the  rejected  waste.  Now 
quitting  its  retirement,  it  comes  abroad  into  the  world, 
journeying,  with  more  prudence  and  discretion,  through 
cultivated  fields,  yielding  to  circumstances,  and  winding 
round  what  would  trouble  it  to  overwhelm  or  remove. 
It  passes  through  the  populous  cities,  and  all  the  busy 
haunts  of  man,  tendering  its  services  on  every  side,  and 
■becomes  the  support  and  ornament  of  the  countr}\ 
Increased  by  numerous  alliances,  and  advanced  in  its 
course,  it  becomes  grave  and  stately  in  its  motions, 
loves  peace  and  quiet,  and  in  majestic  silence  rolls  on 
its  mighty  waters  till  it  is  laid  to  rest  in  the  vast  abyss." 
The  sun,  moon,  and  the  host  of  heaven,  have,  in  all 
ages  and  nations,  been  objects  of  sincere  worship.  Next 
to  them,  the  rivers  seem  to  have  attracted  the  grateful 
acknowledgments  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring 
countries.  They  have  everywhere  been  considered  a 
6ort  of  tutelar  deities,  and  each  little  district,  every  re- 
tired valley,  had  its  river  god,  who  was  preferred  to  the 
others.  The  expostulation  of  Naaman,  the  Syrian,  who 
was  offended  by  the  prophet  for  enjoining  him  to  wash 
ji  the  River  Jordan,  was  the  natural  effusion  of  this 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH.  45 

attachment.  "What,"  said  he,  "are  not  Abana  and 
Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus,  more  excellent  than  all 
the  waters  of  Judea  ?  Might  I  not  wash  in  them  and  be 
clean  ?  So  he  went  away  wroth."  In  those  countries, 
particularly  where  the  labors  of  the  husbandman  and 
shepherd  depended  on  what  took  place  in  a  far  distant 
country,  by  the  falling  of  periodical  rains,  or  the  melting 
of  the  collected  snows,  the  Nile,  the  Ganges,  the  Indus, 
were  the  sensible  agents  of  nature  in  procuring  to  the 
inhabitants  of  their  fertile  banks  all  their  abundance, 
and  they  became  objects  of  grateful  adoration.  Their 
sources  were  sought  for  even  by  conquering  princes, 
and  when  found  were  worshipped  with  the  most  affec- 
tionate devotion.  These  rivers  preserve  to  this  day  the 
fond  adoration  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  through 
which  they  pass,  and  their  waters  arc  still  held  sacred. 

The  general  utility  of  rivers  is  no  less  obvious  than 
their  beauty.  They  carry  the  waters  from  the  mountains 
and  highlands  to  the  plains  below,  and  scatter  fertility 
along  their  borders.  They  furnish  the  means  of  con- 
veying the  fruits  of  industry  to  the  ocean,  the  great 
highway  of  nations,  and  of  bringing  back  the  varied 
productions  of  other  climes.  Their  banks  become  the 
marts  of  commerce,  and  the  seats  of  wealth  and  civili- 
zation. 

The  following  table  shows  the  length  of  some  of  the 
most  remarkable  rivers  on  the  globe. 

IN    AMERICA. 

Miles. 

Missouri,  to  the  mouth  of  Mississippi,  .         3,500 

Oregon,  or  Columbia,  .....  1,200 
St.  Lawrence,  ....  2,000 


46 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


Arkansas, 

Eio  Bravo  del  Norte, 

Connecticut, 

Hudson, 

Delaware, 


Volga, 

Danube, 

Rhine, 

Rhone, 

Tagus, 

Seine, 

Po, 

Thames, 

Tiber, 


Nile, 
Niger, 
Congo, 
Senegal, 

Yenesei, 

Yangste  Kiang, 

Obi, 

Ganges, 

Euphrates, 

Ural, 

Cataracts. — When  a 


IN    EUROPE. 

IN   AFRICA. 
IN  ASIA. 


river  bed  suddenly  changes 
its  level,  so  that  the  stream  is  plunged  down  a  consider- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       47 

able  distance,  a  cataract,  cascade,  or  full  is  formed  ; 
wiicn  the  change  of  the  level  is  less  abrupt,  and  the 
inclination  is  yet  such  as  to  render  the  current  violent 
and  broken,  we  give  it  the  name  of  rapids. 

Falls  are  generally  formed  by  the  descent  of  rivers 
or  streams  from  primitive  mountains  to  secondary 
countries  ;  compact,  durable  rocks  are  requisite  for 
producing  a  permanent  etTect  of  this  kind  ;  such  are  the 
cataracts  of  the  Nile,  the  Ganges,  and  most  other  rivers. 

Some  cataracts,  like  those  of  Tunguska  in  Siberia, 
have  gradually  lost  their  elevation  by  the  wearing  away 
of  the  rocks  over  which  they  are  precipitated,  and  have 
become  merely  rapids,  and  the  same  effect  is  produced 
in  others  by  the  gradual  filling  up  of  the  gulf  into 
which  they  plunge.  "  Cataracts,"  says  Lamouroux, 
"  must  have  been  both  more  numerous  and  more  lofty 
in  the  ancient  world  than  they  are  at  present.  They 
are  daily  diminished  both  in  number  and  height  by  the 
action  of  the  universal  leveller,  time,  and  perhaps  in 
some  future  age  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile  and  the 
Ganges,  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  the  cascades  of 
Tequendama  will  be  looked  upon  as  a  fiction  of 
poetry." 

Some  of  the  most  beautiful  cataracts  have  been 
created,  at  least  in  part,  by  human  labor.  The 
celebrated  Cascafa  del  Marmore  at  Terni,  "  which," 
says  Byron,  "  is  worth  all  the  cascades  and  torrents  of 
Switzerland  put  together,"  is  attributed  to  a  work  of 
Curius  Dentatus,  (270  B.  C.,)  who  caused  the  rock  to 
be  cut  through  for  the  purpose  of  draining  the  marsh- 
es, and  making  an  outlet  for  the  Velino. 

Some  cataracts  owe  their  celebrity  to  the  vast  vol- 


48       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

ume  of  water  which  is  poured,  in  an  unhrokcn  sheet, 
over  a  great  descent,  as  with  Niagara ;  others  are  re- 
markable only  for  the  vast  height  from  which  they 
fall,  whether  they  plunge  down  the  abyss  at  a  single 
leap,  or  dash  themselves  successively  from  shelf  to 
shelf  till  they  reach  the  bottom  of  the  precipice  ;  some, 
falling  in  a  small  riband-like  current  over  the  edge  of 
tlie  rock,  are  dispersed  before  they  reach  the  ground 
into  thin  spray,  forming  glittering  showers  of  brilliants, 
or  gaudy  rainbows ;  others,  driven  forward  by  the 
force  of  the  current,  fall  over  in  a  continuous  arch, 
between  which  and  the  bottom  of  the  ledge  from  which 
they  have  fallen  the  visiter  may  pass  ;  and  yet  others 
are  visited  and  admired  chiefly  for  the  picturesque 
beauties  of  the  glen,  the  grandeur  of  the  pi-ecipices, 
or  the  gloomy  horrors  of  the  deep  chasms  which  sur- 
round them. 

"  If  it  be  diflicult,"  says  Humboldt,  "  to  describe  the 
beauties  of  cataracts,  it  is  still  more  diflicult  to  make 
them  felt  by  the  aid  of  the  pencil.  The  impression 
they  leave  on  the  mind  of  the  observer  depends  on  the 
occurrence  of  a  variety  of  circumstances.  The  volume 
of  water  must  be  proportioned  to  the  height  of  the  fall, 
and  the  scenery  around  must  wear  a  wild  and  roman- 
tic aspect.  The  Pissevache  and  the  Staubbach  in 
Switzerland  are  lofty,  but  their  masses  of  water  are 
inconsiderable  ;  the  Niagara  and  the  Falls  of  the  Rhine 
on  the  contraiy  furnish  an  enormous  column  of  water, 
but  the  height  even  of  the  former  docs  not  exceed 
one  hundred  and  seventy  feet.  A  cataract  sun-ounded 
by  hills  merely  produces  much>  less  eflect  than  the 
waterfall  which  rushes  into  the  deep  and  narrow  val- 


GE03RAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTII. 


19 


leys  of  the  Alps,  and  slill  more  of  the  Andes.  Inde- 
pendciit  of  tlie  height  and  body  of  the  column  of 
water,  the  figure  of  the  landscape,  and  the  aspect  of 
the  rocks,  it  is  the  luxuriant  form  of  the  trees  and 
Iierbaceous  plants,  their  distribution  into  groups  or 
scatiered  thickets,  the  contrasts  of  the  craggy  preci- 
j)ices  to  the  freshness  of  tlie  vegetation,  which  give 
a  peculiar  character  to  these  grand  scenes  of  nature. 
The  Niagara,  which  in  a  norlhern  sky  is  in  the  region 
of  oaks  and  pines,  would  be  still  more  beautiful  were 
its  drapery  composed  of  heliconias,  palms,  and  arbo 
rescent  ferns." 


REMARKABLE    FALLS    IN    EUROPE. 
Name. 

Gavarnie,  France,  Pyrenees, 
Fugloe,  Isle  of  Fugloe,  Norway, 
Staubbach,  Switzerland, 
Doby  I\Iyllin,  Wales, 
Ginfael,  Wales, 
E-iukan  Fossen,  Norway, 
Holme's  Fall,  Scotland,  . 
Nant  d'Arpenaz,  Savoy,     . 
Nemelsaskas,  or  Lulea,  Lapland, 
Gray  Mare's  Tail,  Scotland, 
Pissevache,  Switzerland, 
Terni,  or  Velino,  Roman  States, 
Acharn,  Scotland, 
Fyei's,         do.         .         .         . 
E,eici'"!nbach,  Switzerland, 
DexiFs  Bridge,  Switzerland,     . 
SchaTliausen,  do. 

Tivoli,  Roman  States, 

4  XX. — 5 


Heij^ht  in  feet. 

1,350 
1,000 
960 
900 
900 
800 
800 
800 
600 
350 
300 
300 
240 
212 
200 
100 
80 
50 


50 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


REMARKABLE 

FALLS    IN    AMERICA. 

Name. 

Country. 

Heiahl  in  feet 

Fequendama, 

New  Grenada, 

"  580 

Pusambio,  or  Purace, 

New  Grenada, 

400 

Montmorency, 

Canada, 

250 

Falling  Spring, 

United  States, 

200 

Cauterskill, 

do. 

175 

Niagara, 

do. 

170 

Tauqkanic, 

do. 

IGO 

Great  Falls, 

do. 

150 

Chaiidiv-re, 

Canada, 

100 

Missouri, 

United  States, 

90 

Guanacualtan, 

Mexico, 

80 

Passaic, 

United  States, 

70 

Cahoes, 

do. 

60 

St.  Anthony's, 

do. 

40 

Glenn's, 

do. 

40 

This  is  far  from  being  a  complete  list  even  of  the 
most  remarkable  waterfalls  of  these  two  continents , 
but  it  has  been  found  quite  impossible  to  give  the  di- 
mensions of  many  striking  cataracts,  particularly  in 
America,  with  any  approach  to  accuracy  ;  —  nor  have 
the  highest  known  falls  been  mentioned  here,  because 
they  are  nothing  more  than  the  merest  rills,  and  sel- 
dom offer  any  peculiar  interest.  Thus  the  little  stream 
of  Ache  in  Bavaria  throws  itself  over  an  elevation  of 
2,000  feet,  and  there  is  said  to  be  a  cascade  of  equa» 
height  in  the  island  of  Nukahiva. 

Remarable  Falls  in  Asia.  —  Some  of  the  most 
remarkable  cataracts  of  Asia,  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, are  the  Fall  of  Garispa,  in  the  Indian  Chauts, 
IGOO  feet  high ;  the   Birra  Chuki,  100   feet,  and  the 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       51 

Ganga  Chuki,  200  fcet,  in  the  Cauvery  ;  and  those  of 
Bilohi,  400,  Chachai,  362,  Tonse,  200,  and  Booli,  400 
feet  in  lieiglit,  in  Buadelcund.  There  are  many  beauti- 
ful and  magnificent  cascades  in  the  Ghauts,  and  the 
Ganges,  Indus,  and  Brahmapootra  exhibit  many  falls 
which  have  not  been  described. 

The  Cataracts  of  (he  Nile,  so  much  celebrated  by 
the  ancients,  have  an  elevation  of  not  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  feet. 

The  F'alls  of  Niagara  have  been  found  to  be  gradu- 
ally receding  from  Lake  Ontario;  this  great  body  of 
water  is  hurled  over  a  ledge  of  hard  limestone,  below 
which  is  a  layer  of  soft  shale,  which  decays  and  crum- 
bles away,  so  that  the  superincumbent  limestone  is 
left  without  a  foundation,  and  falls  from  time  to  time 
in  large  masses.  The  bed  of  the  river  below  the  falls 
is  strewed  over  with  the  huge  fragments  that  have 
been  thus  detached  and  plunged  into  the  abyss.  With- 
in the  last  forty  years  the  Falls  have  receded  nearly  fifty 
yards,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  were  once  at 
Queenstown,  about  seven  miles  below  their  actual  site. 
Should  they  continue  to  recede  at  the  rate  above  stated, 
or  a  little  more  than  one  yard  annually,  it  will  be 
30,000  years  before  they  reach  Lake  Erie. 

The  following  beautiful  description  of  this  stupen 
dous  cataract,  written  by  the  late  F.  W.  P.  Green- 
wood, will  be  read  with  interest. 

"  There  is  a  power  and  beaut}',  I  may  say  a  divini- 
ty, in  rushing  waters,  felt  by  all  who  acknowledge  any 
sympathy  with  nature.  The  mountain  stream,  leaping 
from  rock  to  rock,  and  winding,  foaming,  and  glancing 
through  Its  devious  and  stony  channels,  arrests  the  eye 


52      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

of  the  most  careless  or  business-boimd  traveller,  sings 
to  the  heart  and  haunts  the  memory  of  the  man  of 
taste  and  imagination,  and  holds,  as  by  some  unde,- 
finable  spell,  the  affections  of  tliose  who  inhabit  its 
borders.  A  waterfall  of  even  a  few  feet  in  height 
will  enliven  the  dullest  scenery,  and  lend  a  charm  to 
the  loveliest ;  while  a  high  and  headlong  cataract  has 
always  been  ranked  among  the  sublimcst  objects  to  be 
found  in  the  compass  of  the  globe. 

"  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  that  lovers 
of  nature  perform  journeys  of  homage  to  that  sover- 
eign of  cataracts,  that  monarch  of  all  pouring  floods, 
the  Falls  of  Niagara.  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise, 
that,  although  situated  in  what  might  have  been  called, 
a  few  years  ago,  but  cannot  be  now,  the  wilds  of 
North  America,  five  hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic 
coast,  travellers  from  all  civilized  parts  of  the  world 
have  encountered  all  the  difficulties  and  fatigues  of 
the  path,  to  behold  this  prince  of  waterfalls  amidst  its 
ancient  solitudes,  and  that,  more  recently,  the  broad 
highways  to  its  dominions  have  been  thronged.  By 
universal  consent,  it  has  long  ago  been  proclaimed  one 
of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  It  is  alone  in  its  kind. 
Though  a  waterfall,  it  is  not  to  be  compared  with  other 
waterfalls.  In  its  majesty,  its  supremacy,  and  its  in- 
fluence on  the  soul  of  man,  its  brotherhood  is  with  the 
living  ocean  and  the  eternal  hills. 

"  From  Waterloo  we  pass  on  by  a  level  road,  imme- 
diately on  the  western  bank  of  the  Niagara,  and  ob- 
serve that  the  river  continually  becomes  wider,  till  at 
length  it  divides  into  two  streams,  which  sweep  round 


GEOGK-VrKICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  od 

an  island  several  miles  in  length.  They  then  unite 
again,  forming  one  stream  as  before,  only  that  it  is  in- 
creased in  breadth  and  swiftness.  And  now  the  in- 
terest thickens,  and  begins  to  grow  intense.  Hitherto 
we  had  been  travelling  on  the  side  of  a  large  river, 
it  is  true,  but  one  not  much  distinguished  otherwise, 
cither  by  its  motion,  its  shape,  or  the  beauty  of  its 
borders.  We  are  obliged  to  call  on  ourselves  to  con- 
sider where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are  going ;  for 
l^iagara  itself  seems  unconscious  of  the  grand  associa- 
tions with  which  it  is  freighted.  It  moves  as  if  un- 
mindful, or  as  not  caring  to  put  the  traveller  in  mind, 
that  its  waters  have  come  down  through  the  whole 
length  of  Erie  from  the  far  away  Huron,  Michigan, 
Superior;  that  they  are  just  about  to  rush  over  the 
wondi-ous  precipice  below,  and  then  are  to  hasten  for- 
ward into  another  majestic  lake,  and  from  it  are  to 
pass  through  the  portals  of  a  thousand  islands,  and  the 
alternate  rapids  and  lakes  of  a  noble  and  romantic 
river,  washing  the  feet  of  cities,  and  so  to  flow  on  into 
the  all-receiving  sea.  We  are  obliged  to  remember 
this,  I  say ;  for  the  unpretending  waters,  though  pres- 
sing forward  continually  and  intently,  have  thus  far 
told  us  nothing,  themselves,  of  their  long  pilgrimage 
behind,  or  the  yet  more  eventful  journey  before  them. 
But  here,  as  they  are  meeting  round  Grand  Island, 
they  break  their  silence  and  speak,  and  the  whole 
scene  becomes  full  of  spirit  and  meaning.  Here, 
about  three  miles  from  the  Falls,  you  see  the  whhe- 
crested  rapids  tossing  in  the  distance  before  you. 
Here,  even  in  the  most  unfavorable  state  of  the  weath- 
er, you  hear  the  voice  of  the  cataract,  pervading  the 


54  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

air  with  its  low,  monotoriOus,  continuous  roar.  And 
here  you  see  a  column  of  mist  rising  up,  like  a  smoke 
in  distantly  burning  woods,  and  designating  the  sub- 
lime scene  over  which  it  is  immediately  hanging.  I 
know  not  that  I  was  afterward  more  strongly  aflectcd, 
even  by  the  Falls  themselves,  than  I  was  by  the  sight 
of  this  ever  changing  and  yet  never  absent  guide,  this 
cloudy  pillar,  this  floating,  evanescent,  and  yet  eternal 
testimony,  which  pointed  out  to  me  the  exact  spot 
which  had  been  for  so  many  years  a  shrine  to  thou- 
sands, which  I  had  heard  of  and  read  of  so  long,  and 
which  I  had  myself  so  often  visited,  though  not  in 
person,  yet  with  my  reverential  wishes,  with  my  mind, 
and  with  my  heart.  Childhood  came  back  to  me, 
with  its  indistinct,  but  highly  wrought  and  passionate 
images  ;  maps  were  unrolled ;  books  were  opened ; 
paintings  were  spread  ;  measurements  were  recalled ; 
all  the  efforts  which  the  art  of  man  had  made,  all  the 
tributes  which  his  spirit  had  offered,  at  the  call  of  the 
great  cataract ;  all  these  associations,  with  other  dream- 
like thoughts  of  the  wilderness,  the  lake,  and  the 
stream,  rose  up  unbidden  and  with  power  within  me, 
as  I  steadfastly  regarded  that  significant,  far-off  mist, 
and  knew  that  I,  too,  was  soon  to  stand  on  the  conse 
crated  spot,  and  see,  and  feel. 

"  A  mile  or  two  is  soon  passed,  and  now  we  turn  a 
little  from  the  road  to  the  right,  in  order  to  have  a  near 
view  of  the  rapids.  These  occupy  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  river,  from  shore  to  shore,  and  extend  lialf  a 
mile  back  from  the  Falls,  and  are  formed  by  the  rush 
of  the  entire  body  of  waters  down  a  rough  bed,  the 
descent  of  which  in  the  course  of  this  half  mile  is 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       55 

fifty  feet.  Here  all  is  tumult  and  impetuous  haste. 
The  view  is  sometliing  like  that  of  the  sea  in  a  violent 
gale.  Thousands  of  waves  dash  eagerly  forward,  and 
indicate  the  interruptions  which  they  meet  with  fron\ 
the  hidden  rocks  hy  ridges  and  streaks  of  foam. 
Terminating  this  angry  picture,  you  distinguish  the 
crescent  rim  of  the  British  Fall,  over  which  the  tor- 
rent pours,  and  disappears.  The  wilderness  and  the 
solhude  of  the  scene  are  strikingly  impressive.  Noth- 
ing that  lives  is  to  be  seen  in  its  whole  extent.  Noth- 
ing that  values  its  life  ever  dares  venture  it  there. 
The  waters  refuse  the  burden  of  man,  and  of  man's 
works.  Of  this  they  give  fair  and  audible  warning, 
of  which  all  take  heed.  They  have  one  engrossing 
object  before  them,  and  they  go  to  its  accomplishment 
alone. 

"  Returnmg  to  the  road,  we  ride  the  last  half-mile, 
ascending  gradually,  till  we  come  to  the  pubhc  house. 
A  footpath  through  the  garden  at  the  back  of  the 
house,  and  down  a  steep  and  thickly  wooded  bank, 
brings  us  upon  Table  Rock,  a  flat  ledge  of  limestone, 
forming  the  brink  of  the  precipice,  the  upper  stratum 
of  which  is  a  jagged  shelf,  no  more  than  about  a  foot 
in  thickness,  jutting  out  over  the  gulf  below.  Here 
the  whole  scene  breaks  upon  us.  Looking  up  the 
river,  we  face  the  grand  crescent,  called  the  British  oi 
Horseshoe  Fall.  Opposite  to  us  is  Goat  Island,  whicn 
divides  the  Falls,  and  lower  down  to  the  left  is  the 
American  Fall.  And  what  is  the  first  impression 
made  upon  the  beholder  ?  Decidedly,  I  should  say, 
that  of  beauty ;  of  sovereign,  majestic  beauty,  it  is 
true,  but  still  that  of  beauty,  soul-filling  beauty,  rather 


56  GEOGKAFIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

than  of  awful  sublimity.  Every  thing  is  on  so  large  a 
scale  ;  the  height  of  tiie  cataract  is  so  much  exceeded 
by  its  breadtii,  and  so  much  concealed  by  the  volumes 
of  mist  which  wrap  and  shroud  its  feet ;  you  stand  so 
directly  on  the  same  level  with  the  falling  waters;  you 
see  so  large  a  portion  of  them  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  you  ;  and  their  roar  comes  up  so  moder- 
ated from  the  deep  abyss,  that  the  loveliness  of  the 
scene,  at  first  sight,  is  permitted  to  take  precedence 
of  its  grandeur.  Its  coloring  alone  is  of  the  most  ex- 
quisite kind.  The  deep  sea-green  of  the  centre  of 
the  crescent,  where  it  is  probable  the  greatest  mass 
of  water  falls,  lit  up  with  successive  flashes  of  foam, 
and  contrasted  with  the  rich,  creamy  whiteness  of  the 
two  sides  or  wings  of  the  same  crescent ;  then  the 
sober  gray  of  the  opposite  precipice  of  Goat  Island, 
crowned  with  the  luxuriant  foliage  of  its  forest  trees, 
and  connected  still  further  on  with  the  pouring  snows 
of  the  greater  and  less  American  Falls ;  the  agitated 
and  foamy  surface  of  the  waters  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Falls,  followed  by  the  darkness  of  their  hue  as  they 
sweep  along  through  the  perpendicular  gorge  beyond  ; 
the  mist,  floating  about,  and  veiling  objects  with  a 
softening  indistinctness ;  and  the  bright  rainbow  which 
is  constant  to  the  sun,  —  altogether  form  a  coml)ina- 
tion  of  color,  changing,  too,  with  every  change  of  light, 
every  variation  of  the  wind,  and  every  hour  of  the 
day,  which  the  painter's  art  cannot  imitate,  and  which 
nature  herself  has  perhaps  only  efTected  here, 

"  And  the  motion  of  these  Falls,  how  wonderfully 
fine  it  is !  how  graceful,  how  stately,  how  calm ! 
There  is  nothing  in   it  hurried   or  headlong,  as  yon 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      57 

might  have  supposed.  The  eye  is  so  long  in  measuring 
the  vast,  and  yet  unacknowledged  height,  that  they  seem 
to  move  over  ahnost  slowly  ;  the  central  and  most  vo- 
luminous portion  of  the  Horseshoe  even  goes  down 
silently.  The  truth  is,  that  pompous  phrases  cannot 
describe  these  Falls.  Calm  and  deeply-meaning  words 
should  alone  be  used  in  speaking  of  them.  Any  thing 
like  hyperbole  would  degrade  them,  if  they  could  be 
degraded.  But  tliey  cannot  be.  Neither  the  words  nor 
the  deeds  of  man  degrade  or  disturb  them.  There 
they  pour  over,  in  their  collected  might  and  dignified 
flowing,  steadily,  constantly,  as  they  always  have  been 
pouring  since  they  came  from  the  hollow  of  His  hand, 
and  you  can  add  nothing  to  them,  nor  can  you  tak 
any  thing  from  them. 

"  As  I  rose,  on  the  morning  following  my  arrival, 
and  went  to  the  window  for  an  early  view,  a  singular 
fear  came  over  me  that  the  Falls  might  have  passed 
away,  thougli  their  sound  was  in  my  ears.  It  was,  to 
be  sure,  rather  the  shadow  of  a  fear  thau  a  fear,  and 
reason  dissipated  it  as  soon  as  it  was  formed.  But  the 
bright  things  of  earth  are  so  apt  to  be  fleeting,  and 
we  are  so  liable  to  lose  what  is  valued  as  soon  as  it  is 
bestowed,  that  I  believe  it  was  a  perfectly  natural  feel- 
ing which  suggested  to  me  for  an  instant,  that  I  had  en- 
joyed quite  as  much  of  such  a  glorious  exhibition  as  I 
deserved,  and  that  I  had  no  right  to  expect  that  it  would 
continue  as  long  as  I  might  be  pleased  to  behold. 
But  the  Falls  were  there,  with  their  full,  regular,  and 
beautiful  (lowing.  The  clouds  of  spray  and  mist  were 
now  dense  and  high,  and  completely  concealed  the 
opposite  shores ;    but  as  the   day  advanced,  and  the 


58  GEOGRAFHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  ' 

beams  of  tho  sua  increased  in  power,  they  were  thin- 
ned and  contracted.  Presently  a  ihunder-sliowcr 
rose  up  from  the  west,  and  passed  directly  over  us : 
and  soon  another  came,  still  heavier  than  the  pre- 
ceding. And  now  I  was  more  impressed  than  ever 
with  the  peculiar  motion  of  the  Fall ;  not,  however, 
because  it  experienced  a  change,  but  because  it  did 
not.  The  Hghtning  gleamed,  the  thunder  pealed,  the 
rain  fell  in  torrents ;  the  storms  were  grand ;  but  the 
Fall,  if  I  may  give  its  expression  a  language,  did  not 
heed  them  at  all  ;  the  rapids  above  raged  no  more  and 
no  less  than  before,  and  the  Fall  poured  on  with  the 
same  quiet  solemnity,  with  the  same  equable  intent- 
ness,  undisturbed  by  the  lightning  and  rain,  and  listen- 
ing not  to  the  loud  thunder. 

"  About  half  a  mile  below  the  Horseshoe  Fall,  a  com- 
modious road  has  lately  been  cut  in  a  slanting  direc- 
tion, down  the  side  of  the  perpendicular  cliif,  and 
through  the  solid  rock,  to  the  river.  Here  we  find  a 
regular  ferry,  and  are  conveyed  in  a  small  boat  across 
the  stream,  which  is  now  narrowed  to  a  breadth  of 
about  twelve  hundred  feet,  to  the  American  side.  The 
passage  is  perfectly  safe,  and,  though  short,  delightful, 
as  it  affords  a  superb  view  of  both  the  Falls  above, 
and  of  the  dark  river  below.  The  cm-rent  is  not  very 
rapid,  and  near  the  American  side  actually  sets  up  to- 
Avard  the  Falls  ;  by  the  help  of  which  eddy  the  boat 
regains  what  it  had  lost  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
"We  land  almost  directly  at  the  feet  of  the  American 
Fall,  and  by  walking  a  little  way  to  the  right,  may 
phice  ourselves  in  its  spray.  Now  look  up,  and  the 
height  will   not   disappoint  you.     Now   attend  to   the 


GEOGUAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  59 

voice  of  the  cataract,  and  it  will  fill  your  soul  with 
awe.  It  seems  as  if  the  '  waters  which  are  above 
the  firmament'  were  descending  from  the  heights  of 
heaven,  and  as  if  '  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up '  from  below.  The  noise,  which  per- 
mits free  conversation  to  those  who  are  on  the  bank 
above,  is  here  imperative  and  deafening.  It  resembles 
the  perpetual  rolling  of  near  thunder,  or  the  uninter- 
rupted discharge  of  a  battery  of  heavy  ordnance, 
mingled  with  a  strange  crashing  and  breaking  sound. 
This  resemblance  to  the  roar  of  artillery  is  heightened 
by  the  sight  of  the  large  bodies  of  spray,  which  are 
continually  and  with  immense  force  exploded  from  the 
abyss.  The  impression  of  superior  height  is  gained, 
not  so  much  from  the  fact  that  the  American  Fall  is 
actually  ten  or  twelve  feet  higher  than  the  British,  as 
from  your  having  a  complete  profile  view  of  the  one, 
from  brink  to  base,  which  you  cannot  well  obtain  of 
the  other. 

"  Flights  of  secure  wooden  steps  bring  us  to  the  top 
of  the  bank,  where  we  again  stand  on  a  level  with  tlie 
descending  Falls.  We  soon  found  that  the  greatest 
variety  of  interest  was  on  this,  the  American  side. 
The  village  of  Manchester  is  situated  on  the  rapid, 
just  above  the  Fall.  A  bridge  is  thrown  boldly  ovei 
the  rushing  and  '  arrowy  '  rapid  to  a  small  island,  called 
Bath  Island,  where  there  arc  one  or  two  dwellings 
and  a  paper-mill ;  and  from  this  spot  another  bridge 
runs  whh  equal  boldness  to  Goat  Island.  The  whole 
breadth  of  the  space  thus  traversed  is  one  thousand 
and  seventy-two  feet. 

"  Goat  Island  is  a  paradise.     I  do  not  believe  that 


60      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH, 

there  is  a  spot  in  the  world,  which,  witliin  the  same 
space,  comprises  so  much  grandeur  and  bcauly.  It  is 
but  about  a  mile  in  circumference,  and  in  that  mile 
you  have  a  forest  of  tall  old  trees,  many  of  them 
draped  with  climbing  and  cleaving  ivy ;  a  rich  va- 
riety of  wild  shrubs  and  plants ;  several  views  of  the 
rapids  ;  an  opportunity  to  pass  without  discomfort  under 
the  smaller  American  Fall,  and  the  very  finest  view, 
I  will  venture  to  say,  of  the  great  Crescent,  or  Horse- 
shoe Fall.  Turn  to  the  left,  as  you  enter  this  Eden, 
and  you  come  out  into  a  cleared  and  open  spot,  on 
which  you  discern  a  log-hut,  with  vines  round  its  door 
and  windows,  and  a  little  garden  in  front  of  it,  running 
down  to  the  water's  edge ;  a  flock  of  sheep  feeding 
quietly,  or  reposing  pleasantly,  under  scattered  clumps 
of  graceful  trees ;  while,  beyond  this  scene  of  rural 
repose,  you  see  the  whole  field  of  the  rapids,  bearing 
down  in  full  force  upon  this  point  of  their  division,  as 
if  determined  to  sweep  it  away.  Or,  turn  to  the  right, 
and  threading  the  shady  forest,  step  aside  to  the  mar- 
gin of  the  smaller  American  Fall,  and  bathe  your 
hands,  if  you  please,  in  its  just  leaping  waters.  Then, 
pursuing  the  circuit  of  the  island,  descend  a  spiral 
flight  of  stairs,  and,  treading  cautiously  along  a  narrow 
footpath,  cut  horizontally  in  the  side  of  the  cliff,  enter 
the  magnificent  hall  formed  by  the  falling  flood,  the 
bank  of  which  you  have  just  left,  and  command  3'onr 
nerves  for  a  few  moments,  that,  standing  as  you  do 
about  midway  in  the  descent  of  the  Fall,  you  may  look 
up,  eighty  feet,  to  its  arched  and  crystal  roof,  and 
down,  eighty  feet,  on  its  terrible  and  misty  and  re- 
Bounding  floor.  You  will  never  forget  that  sight  and 
sound. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH,  61 

"Retrace  your  steps  to  llu;  upper  bank,  and  then,  if 
your  strength  holds  out,  proceed  a  sliort  way  further, 
to  the  enjoyment  of  a  view,  ah-eady  referred  to,  which 
excels  every  other  in  this  place  of  many  wonders.  It 
is  obtained  from  a  bridge  or  platform,  which  has  re- 
cently been  thrqwn  out  over  some  rocks,  and  is  car- 
ried to  the  very  brink  of  the  Horseshoe  Fall,  and  even 
projects  beyond  it ;  so  that  the  spectator,  at  the  end  of 
the  j)!atform,  is  actually  suspended  over  it.  And  if  he 
is  alone,  and  gives  way  to  his  feelings,  he  must  drop 
upon  his  knees,  for  the  grandeur  of  the  scene  is  over- 
powering. The  soul  is  elevated,  and  at  the  same 
time  subdued,  as  in  an  awful  and  heavenly  presence. 
Deity  is  there.  The  brooding  and  commanding  Spirit 
is  tlu>re.  '  The  Lord  is  upon  many  waters.'  The 
heights  and  the  depths,  the  shadows  and  the  sunlight, 
the  foam,  the  mist,  the  rainbows,  the  gushing  showers 
of  diamonds,  the  beauty  and  the  power  and  the  majes- 
ty all  around  and  beneath',  environ  the  spirit  with  holi- 
est influences,  and  without  violence  compel  it  to  adore. 
'  Deep  calleth  unto  deep.'  The  cataract,  from  its 
mysterious  depths,  calleth  with  its  thunder,  back  to 
the  deep  lake,  and  up  to  the  deep  sky,  and  forward  to 
the  deep  ocean,  and  far  inward  to  the  deep  of  man's 
soul.  And  the  answer  of  the  lake,  and  the  answer  of 
the  sky,  and  the  answer  of  the  ocean,  are  praise  to 
the  Maker,  praise  to  Him  who  sitteth  above  the  water- 
flood,  praise  to  Amighty  God!  And  where  is  the 
soul,  which  will  not  also  hear  that  call,  and  answer  it 
even  with  a  clearer  and  louder  answei,  and  cry, '  Praise 
to  the  Creator,  praise  to  the  infinite  and  holy  and  bles- 
sed God ! ' " 

XX. — 6 


62       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Springs. — These  are  formed  by  the  percolation  of 
waters  through  the  earth  and  rocks,  which  descend 
from  higher  to  lower  levels,  and  flow  out  at  openings 
which  they  fuid  or  force  for  themselves.  They  are 
almost  all  impregnated  with  some  foreign  ingredients, 
which  render  them  more  agreeable  to  the  taste,  and 
more  nutritious,  than  pure  rain-water.  But  it  is  only 
those  waters  which  contain  such  a  portion  of  foreign 
matter  as  gives  them  a  sensible  flavor,  and  a  specific 
action  upon  the  animal  economy,  to  which  we  give  the 
name  of  mineral  waters. 

The  number  of  metals,  earths,  acids,  and  alkalis, 
held  in  solution  by  different  springs,  comprehends  al- 
most all  known  substances ;  but  the  most  common  and 
abundant  are  lime,  iron,  magnesia,  silica,  alumine,  soda, 
and  the  carbonic  and  sulphuric  acids. 

Mineral  springs  are  divided,  in  respect  of  temperature, 
into  the  cold  and  the  thermal  or  warm  springs.  In  re- 
gard to  their  ingredients,  they  are  commonly  divided 
mto  four  classes;  the  acidulous  or  carbonated;  the 
saline  ;  the  chalybeate  or  ferruginous  ;  and  the  sulphure- 
ous. 

Those  waters  which  contain  carbonic  acid  in  its  free 
slate,  or  in  combination  in  excess  with  a  base,  are  call- 
ed acidulous  or  carbonated  waters.  They  are  distin- 
guished by  tiicir  slightly  acid  taste,  and  by  their  spark- 
ling when  they  are  poured  from  one  vessel  to  another; 
both  of  which  properties  they  lose  on  exposure  to  the 
air.  Beside  carbonic  acid  they  generally  contain  com- 
mon salt,  and  some  of  the  earthy  carbonates. 

To  this  class  of  waters  belong  those  of  Vichi  and 
Mont  d'Or  in  France  ;  the  famous  Seltzer  waters  of 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       C3 

Niederselters,  in  Nassau ;  the  Carlsbad  Springs  in 
Bohemia  ;  the  Sweet  Springs  in  Monroe  county,  Virgin- 
ia, &c. 

Tlic  sulphureous  waters  are  impregnated  with  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen.  They  are  distinguished  by  their 
odor,  and  by  their  causing  a  piece  of  silver  immersed  in 
them  to  turn  black.  Beside  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
they  contain  alkaline  and  earthy  sulphates  and  muriates, 
and  they  may  be  subdivided  into  two  kinds ;  those 
which  have  sulphuretted  hydrogen  in  a  free  state,  and 
those  in  which  it  is  combined  with  an  alkali  or  an 
earth.  The  general  effects  of  these  waters  are  stimu- 
lant, and  they  are  more  often  used  in  the  form  of  a  bath 
than  internally.  They  are  serviceable  in  gout  and 
rheumatism,  in  sprains  and  bruises,  in  cutaneous  disor- 
ders, &c. 

Among  the  sulphureous  springs  may  be  mentioned 
those  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  Rhenish  Prussia  ;  of  Enghien, 
in  France  ;  of  Harrowgale,  in  England  ;  of  Moffat,  in 
Scotland ;  the  White  Sulphur  Springs  of  Greenbrier 
county,  the  Red  Sulphur  of  Giles  county,  and  the  Salt 
Sulphur  of  Monroe  county,  Virginia;  the  Olympian 
Springs  and  the  Blue  Licks,  in  Kentucky,  &ic. 

Chalybeate  waters  contain  iron,  and  are  known 
by  their  peculiar  taste,  and  by  their  becomirg  black 
when  mixed  with  an  infusion  of  nutgalls.  In  some,  the 
iron  is  combined  whh  sulphuric  acid,  in  more  with 
carbonic  acid  ;  when  this  is  in  excess,  the  waters  possess 
acid  properties,  and  form  acidulous  chalybeate  waters. 

Chalybeate  waters  are  tonic  and  aperient,  and  are 
used  with  advantage  in  cases  of  debility  and  chronic 
diseases.     Among  the  most  noted  springs  of  this  class 


64  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIKW    OF    TIIK    EARTH. 

are  those  of  Tunbridge  and  Brighton,  in  England ;  of 
Spa,  in  Belgium  ;  of  Pyrmont,  in  Waldeck  ;  the  fourteen 
springs  of  Langenschwalbach,  in  Nassau ;  the  springs 
of  Ballston ;  Bedford,  York,  and  Brandy  wine  Springs, 
in  Pennsylvania ;  the  Yellow  Spring,  in  Ohio,  &c. 

Saline  waters  are  those  which  contain  the  saline  in- 
gredients generally  found  in  mineral  waters,  but  which 
have  very  little  or  no  iron  or  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and 
have  not  carbonic  acid  in  excess.  These  are  subdivid- 
ed into  alkaline,  containing  alkali  in  a  free  state,  or  com- 
bined with  carbonic  acid ;  hard  waters,  or  those  which 
contain  carbonate  or  sulphate  of  lime ;  salt  waters,  in 
which  salt  abounds ;  and  purgative  waters,  which  con- 
tain chiefly  sulphate  of  magnesia,  or  Epsom  salt. 

The  most  celebrated  thermal  saline  waters  are  those 
of  Bath,  Buxton,  and  Bristol,  in  England ;  of  Dunblane 
and  Pitcailhley,  in  Scotland  ;  Plombieres  and  Bourbon- 
Lancy,  in  France;  Carlsbad  and  Tcplitz,  in  Germany; 
Lucca  and  St.  Julian,  in  Italy;  and  the  Warm  Springs 
of  North  Carolina. 

Among  the  cold  saline  springs  are  those  of  Saratoga, 
in  New  York,  and  of  Ilarrodsburg  and  Grenviile,  in 
Kentucky  ;  Epsom  and  Cheltenham,  Leamington,  Scar- 
borough, and  Malvern,  in  England;  and  Sedlitz  and 
Seidschutz,  in  Bohemia.  When  there  is  a  considerable 
quantity  of  carbonic  acid,  they  become  more  grateful  to 
the  taste,  and  when  iron  is  present,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case,  they  acquire  tonic  and  stimulant  powers. 

Thermal  waters  include  individual  springs  of  all 
the  classes ;  a  thermal  sjiring  being  one  which,  what- 
ever are  its  chemical  properties,  possesses  a  leniper- 
iture  more  or  less  elevated  above  that  of  the  rcirion  in 


GEOGPiAPHICAL    VIEW    OF   THE    EARTH. 


65 


which  it   is  situated,  and  the  changes  of  which  do  not 
coincide  with  those  of  tlie  external  atmosphere. 


TABLt 

OF  THERMAL    WATEK 

Name. 

Country. 

San  Pedro  Dosal, 

Portugal,    . 

Chaves,    . 

u 

Vic,    .     ■    . 

France,    . 

Vichi,       . 

11 

Bourbon  les  Bains, 

u 

TepHtz,    . 

Austria, 

Carlsbad, 

a 

Wisbaden, 

Nassau, 

Schlangenbad 

u 

Aix-la-Chapclle, 

Prussia, 

Baden, 

Baden, 

PiscarelH, 

Naples, 

Geyser, 

Iceland,    . 

Buxton,    . 

England, 

Bristol, 

(( 

Bath, 

(( 

St.  Michael, 

Azores,    . 

Hot  Springs,     . 

Arkansas, 

Hot  Springs, 

Virginia, 

Warm  Springs, 

North  Carolina, 

Sweet  Springs, 

Virginia, 

Sans  Souci, 

New  York,   . 

Chichimaquillo,     . 

Mexico,    . 

St.  Lucia, 

West  Indies, 

Eaux  Bouillantes, 

Martinique, 

Onoto, 

Venezuela,    . 

Trincheras, . 

u 

Cuenca,    . 

Equator, 

5 

6* 

66  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Lakes.  —  A  lake  is  an  inland  body  of  water  not 
conneclcd  with  the  ocean  or  any  of  its  branches.  In 
regard  to  the  position  of  their  beds,  there  are  two  classes 
of  lakes ;  those  formed  in  deep  hollows  among  the 
mountains,  and  fed  by  springs  or  torrents ;  and  those 
formed  in  level  countries  by  the  surplus  water  of  rivers 
or  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  a  general  declivity  in 
the  ground.  Thus  there  is  a  system  of  the  former 
class  in  the  great  Alpine  girdle  of  the  old  continent,  in- 
cluding the  lakes  of  the  Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  the  Apen- 
nines, and  those  of  the  Taurus,  Caucasus,  and  Altaic 
chains  ;  to  the  north  of  this  great  mountain  band  are  the 
numerous  lakes  of  the  vast  Northern  plain  of  Europe 
and  Asia,  belonging  to  the  latter  class,  and  comprising 
the  numerous  lakes  of  Prussia,  Sweden,  Russia,  and 
Siberia ;  to  the  south  of  the  mountainous  zone,  in  Africa, 
for  instance,  the  lakes  are  few. 

There  is  a  similar  disposition  in  the  New  World  ;  a 
chain  of  mountain  lakes  accompanies  the  Andes  through 
their  whole  course,  including  Titicaca,  Nicaragua, 
Chapala,  the  small  lakes  of  the  Mexican  valley,  Tim- 
panogos,  &c.,  and  while  the  great  eastern  plains  of 
South  America  are  nearly  destitute  of  them,  the  regions 
around  the  Hudson  contain  an  astonishing  number  of 
lakes,  corresponding  in  number,  character,  and  geo- 
graphical situation  to  those  which  skirt  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  and  the  Frozen  Ocean. 

Another  division  of  lakes  is  founded  upon  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  receive  or  discharge  their  waters,  ana 
in  this  point  of  view  they  form  four  classes  :  —  1.  Those 
which  receive  streams  of  water,  and  have  an  outlet  to 
the  ocean  are  the  most  numerous  and  extensive. 
2.  Those  which  receive  rivers,  without  having  any  visi 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


67 


ble  outlet,  such  us  the  Caspian  Sea,  Lake  Tchad,  m  the 
interior  of  Africa,  «S«:c.  3.  Those  whicli  jeceive  no  run- 
ning water,  but  havje  an  outlet ;  these  are  fed  by  springs. 
4.  Those  which  neither  receive  running  water,  nor  have 
an  outlet ;  these  are  small. 

Lakes  are  also  distinguished,  according  to  the  quality 
of  their  water,  into  saline  and  fresh  ;  those  which  have 
no  outlet,  and  those  situated  in  a  region,  whose  soil  is  im- 
pregnated with  salt,  are  of  the  latter  class. 

EUROPEAN    LAKES. 


Sq.  Miles. 

Sq.  Miles. 

Ladoga,  (Russia,) 

6,350 

Lake  of  Constance, 

,       290 

Wener,  (Sweden,) 

2,150 

Lake  of  Ilmen, 

275 

Saima,  (Finland,) 

1,610 

Garda, 

180 

Peipus,  (Russia,) 

850 

Maggiore, 

150 

Wetter,  (Sweden,) 

850 

Neufchatel, 

115 

Mceler, 

760 

Lucerne, 

100 

Lake  of  Geneva, 

340 

ASIATIC 

LAKES. 

Aral,                    9,930  (?) 

Van, 

1,960 

Baikal,                 7,540  (?) 

Urmiah, 

760 

Palkaii, 

3,696 

Dead  Sea, 

500 

AFRICAN 

LAKES. 

Lake  Tchad,       • 

(?) 

Dembea, 

(?) 

Maravi, 

(?) 

Dibble, 

(?) 

AMERICAN    LAKES. 

Superior, 

35,000 

Athabasca, 

6,000 

Huron, 

20,000 

Erie, 

10,000 

Great  Bear  Lake, 

(?) 

Ontario, 

7,200 

Winnipeg, 

10,000 

Titlcaca, 

6,500 

Slave  Lake, 

12,000 

Nicaragua, 

5,000 

Michigan, 

16,000 

68       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

The  following  lines,  descriptive  of  the  largest  mass 
of  fresli  water  in  the  worid,  muy  serve  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  this  sublime  and  beautiful 
object,  in  the  scenery  of  our  own  continent :  — 

LAKE   SUPERIOR. 

Father  of  lakes  !  thy  waters  bend 

Beyond  the  eagle's  utmost  view, 
When,  throned  in  heaven,  he  sees  thee  send 

Back  to  the  sky  its  world  of  blue. 

Boundless  and  deep,  the  forests  weave 
Their  twilight  shade  thy  borders  o'er, 

And  threatening  clifi!:;,  Iil-,e  giants,  heave 
Their  rugged  forms  along  thy  shore. 

Pale  Silence,  'mid  thy  hollow  caves, 
With  listening  car  in  sadness  broods, 

Or  startled  Echo  o'er  thy  waves 

Sends  the  hoarse  wolf-notes  of  thy  woods. 

Nor  can  the  light  canoes,  that  glide 

Across  thy  breast  like  things  of  air, 
Chase  from  thy  lone  and  level  tide 

The  spell  of  stillness,  deepening  there. 

Yet  round  this  waste  of  wood  and  wave. 

Unheard,  unseen,  a  spirit  lives. 
That,  breathing  o'er  each  rock  and  cave, 

To  all  a  wild,  strange  aspect  gives. 

The  thunder-riven  oak,  that  flings 

Its  grisly  arms  athwart  the  sky, 
A  sudden,  startling  image  brings 

To  the  lone  traveller's  kindled  eye. 

The  gnarled  and  braided  boughs,  that  shov7 
Their  dim  forms  in  the  forest  shade, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       69 

Like  wrestling  serpents  seem,  and  throw 
Fantastic  liorrors  tlirougli  tlie  glade. 

Tlie  very  eclioes  round  this  shore 

Have  caught  a  strange  and  gibhering  tone, 

For  tiiey  liave  told  the  war-whoop  o'er, 
Till  the  wild  chorus  is  their  own. 

Wave  of  the  wilderness,  adieu  '. 

Adieu,  ye  rocks,  ye  wilds  and  woods '. 
Roll  on,  thou  element  of  blue, 

And  fill  these  awful  solitudes  ! 

Thou  hast  no  tale  to  tell  of  man,  — 

God  is  thy  theme.     Ye  sounding  caves, — 

Whisper  of  Him,  whose  mighty  plan 
Deems  as  a  bubble  all  your  waves  ! 


The  Ocean.  —  This  moy  be  described  as  a  sheet  of 
water,  resting  in  the  hollows  of  the  solid  structure  of 
our  planet,  and  covering  not  less,  probably,  than  two 
thirds  of  the  entire  surface.  From  calculations,  its 
greatest  depth  is  believed  to  be  about  30,000  feet,  or 
between  four  and  five  miles,  which,  it  may  be  remark- 
ed, is  near  the  greatest  height  of  any  land  above  the 
surface  of  the  ocean.  But  the  greatest  depth  which 
has  been  ascertained  by  actual  measurement  is  not  more 
than  5000  feet ;  for  such  is  the  pressure  and  density  of 
the  liquid  mass  at  that  depth,  that  no  sounding-lead,  or 
apparatus  possessed  by  mariners,  can  possibly  be  made 
to  sink  below  that  point  from  the  surface. 

The  quantity  of  water  composing  the  ocean,  by  the 
unalterable  laws  of  evaporation  and  condensation,  re- 
mains always  at  a  fi.xed  point,  there  being  neither  increase 
nor  decrease.     It  has  been  remarked  by  Laplace,  that 


IPd  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

if  the  existing  waters  of  the  ocean  were  increased  only 
one  fourth,  the  eartli  would  be  drowned,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  some  of  the  highest  mountains ;  and  tliat  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  waters  were  diminished  in  tlie 
same  proportion,  the  largest  rivers  would  dwindle  to 
the  capacity  of  brooks,  and  some  of  the  principal  arms 
of  the  sea  would  entirely  disajipear,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  earth  would  be  deprived  of  its  due  proportion 
of  humidity,  and  the  face  of  nature  be  dried  up  and 
rendered  desolate.  Broad,  therefore,  as  are  the  limits  of 
the  ocean,  they  are  only  in  exact  agreement  with  the 
wants  and  arrangements  of  nature  in  the  habitable  por- 
tion of  the  globe,  and  as  such  afford  a  convincing  testi- 
mony of  the  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  Divine 
Creator. 

The  bottom  or  bed  of  the  ocean  is  marked  by  the 
same  irregularities  of  surface  as  the  dry  ground.  It 
consists  of  heights  and  hollows,  rocky  protuberances 
and  caverns,  hills  and  vales,  sandbanks  and  reefs,  of 
every  imaginable  form  and  extent.  Like  the  land,  also,  it 
bears  a  luxuriant  vegetation,  consisting  of  plants  of 
various  kinds,  all  of  which  are  exactly  suited  to  their 
respective  situations.  The  sea  has  likewise  its  tribes  of 
animals,  from  the  huge  whale  down  to  the  minute  coral 
insect,  by  whose  incessant  labors  the  hardest  rocky 
substances  arc  constructed  and  reared  to  the  surface  of 
the  waters.  When  the  more  elevated  protuberances  in 
the  bed  of  the  ocean  are  raised  above  the  surface  level, 
they  assume,  as  is  well  known,  the  character  of  islands, 
and  when  of  a  largo  size,  of  continents.  Thus,  the 
tracts  of  dry  land  arc  in  one  sense  the  tops  of  moun- 
tains rising  from  the  bosom  of  the  deep.     How  islands 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  7i 

are  formed,  somelimes  by  the  action  of  volcanoes  burst- 
ing upwards  in  showers  of  lava  in  the  midst  of  the  sea., 
and  sometimes  by  the  gradual  accumulation  of  matter 
deposited  by  coralline  insects ;  and  also  how  tracts 
of  land  are  added  to  continents,  and  also  sometimes 
laken  from  them,  by  the  influence  of  currents,  rivers, 
and  other  natural  causes,  are  explained  by  geology. 

Tides.  —  The  waters  of  the  sea  may  exhibit  to  the  eye 
a  calm,  unruffled  surface,  when  not  agitated  by  winds,  but 
they  are  never  altogether  still.  Their  ceaseless  motion, 
which  has  the  important  effect  of  preserving  them  from 
stagnation,  is  caused  by  two  great  risings  and  depres- 
sions, or  flowings  and  ebbings,  of  the  waters,  in  the 
course  of  twenty-four  hours,  known  by  the  name  of 
tides.  The  two  tides  or  flowings  of  the  sea  are  ex- 
perienced daily  all  over  the  globe,  though  in  some  seas, 
from  peculiar  local  causes,  they  are  less  powerful 
than  in  other  places.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that 
the  condition  of  high  water  or  full  tide  occurs  at  direct- 
ly opposite  sides  of  the  earth  at  the  same  time.  When 
it  is  high  water  at  longitude  0,  it  is  also  high  water  at 
longitude  180,  and  so  on  with  every  other  two  opposite 
points  of  the  earth,  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude. 

It  has  been  ascertained,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt, 
that  the  tides  are  caused  by  the  attractive  influence  of 
the  moon.  By  the  universal  law  of  attraction  or  gravi- 
tation, all  masses  of  matter  have  a  tendency  to  be  at- 
tracted or  drawn  towards  each  other.  The  moon, 
therefore,  as  a  mass  of  matter,  in  passing  round  the 
earth,  has  a  tendency  to  draw  the  earth  after  it,  or  out 
of  its  natural  relative  position,  and  it  really  does  so  to  a 
small  extent.     As  it  passes   round,  it  draws  up   the 


72  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

waters  in  a  protuberance,  or,  in  common  language, 
draws  a  huge  wave  after  it.  But  it  also  draws  the  land 
beneath  the  protuberance,  and  so  causes  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  globe  to  be  drawn  away  from  the  ocean, 
leaving  the  waters  there  to  form  a  similar  protuberance, 
or  high  wave.  In  the  one  case,  the  water  is  drawn 
directly  up  or  towards  the  moon  ;  in  the  other,  the 
water  is  in  some  shape  left  behind  by  the  land  being 
pulled  away  from  it.  In  both,  a  similar  effect  is  produc- 
ed ;  two  high  tides  are  caused  at  opposite  exti'emities 
of  the  earth.  Where  the  higher  part  of  either  of  these 
great  billows  strikes  our  coast,  we  have  the  phenome- 
non of  high  water  ;  and  when  the  lower  touches  us,  it 
is  low  water.  Each  of  the  waves  is  brought  over  any 
given  place  in  the  circumference  of  the  earth  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  so  as  to  cause  high  water  twice  a  day. 
The  sun  is  also  known  to  have  a  certain  attractive  in- 
fluence on  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  but,  from  the  great 
distance  of  that  luminary,  the  effect  is  comparatively 
small.  But  when  this  minor  influence  of  the  sun  coin- 
cides with  that  of  the  moon,  or  acts  in  the  same  way, 
we  perceive  a  marked  increase  in  the  tides ;  on  such 
occasions  we  have  what  are  called  spring  or  large 
tides.  When  the  solar  and  lunar  attractions  act  in  op- 
position, we  have  neap  or  small  tides.  The  spring 
tides  happen  twice  a  month,  when  the  moon  is  at  full 
and  change ;  and  the  neap  when  the  moon  is  in  the 
middle  of  its  orbit,  between  those  two  points. 

A  tide  requires  six  hours  to  rise,  which  it  does  by 
small  impulses  or  ripplirgs  of  the  water  on  the  shore, 
and  six  hours  to  ebb  or  fill ;  but  every  succcssiv!  high 
water  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-seven  minutes  later  than 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       73 

Lie  preceding,  or,  on  an  average,  about  fifty  minutes 
for  two  tides,  in  consequence  of  the  earth  requiring  that 
time  above  the  twenty-four  hours  to  bring  any  given 
point  again  beneath  the  moon.  The  tides  are  thus  re- 
tarded by  the  same  reason  that  the  moon  rises  fifty 
minutes  later  every  day.  It  is  evident  that  the  tides 
will  be  greatest  at  that  point  of  the  earth's  surface  which 
is  nearest  to  the  moon,  or  where  the  latter  is  vertical. 
She  is  so  between  the  tropics ;  and  accordingly  the 
tides  are  there  greatest,  and  they  diminish  as  we  ap- 
proach either  pole.  It  is  further  to  be  remarked,  that 
the  moon  does  not  anywhere  draw  up  the  tides  imme- 
diately. Three  hours  elapse  before  the  waters  are 
raised,  in  consequence  of  the  law  of  inertia,  or  a  dispo- 
sition which  every  body  has  to  continue  in  the  condi- 
tion of  rest  or  motion  in  which  it  happens  to  be  placed. 
This  stubbornness  to  resist  the  moon's  influence  is  only 
overcome  by  a  three  hours'  action  upon  the  waters ; 
and  thus  the  tidal  wave  is  always  three  hours  behind 
the  moon  in  its  passage. 

Twice  a  year,  namely,  in  March  and  September,  the 
tides  are  higher  than  at  other  times,  because  then  the 
attraction  of  the  sun  and  moon  are  strongest.  In  some 
of  the  friths  or  arms  of  the  sea  on  the  east  coast  of 
Scotland,  it  has  been  occasionally  noticed  that  there  have 
been  four  high  waters  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  These, 
however,  are  not  simple  tides.  The  double  risings  are 
caused  by  the  irregular  passage  of  the  tidal  wave  from 
the  Atlantic  round  the  north  and  south  points  of  the 
island  of  Great  Britain.  When  that  portion  of  the  wave 
which  proceeds  by  the  south  reaches  the  east  coast 
sooner  than  that  by  the  north,  or  vice  versa,  there  will 
XX. — 7 


74  GEOGKAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH. 

be  two  risings  of  the  water  instead  of  one.  Similar 
phenomena  may  be  observed  in  other  parts  of  the 
earth.  In  the  Mediterranean  Sea  the  tides  are  small, 
and  in  some  places  scarcely  perceptible  ;  this  is  caused 
by  the  general  confinement  of  that  inland  branch  of  tlie 
ocean  by  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  w  hich  prevent  the  full 
action  of  the  tidal  wave  either  in  its  rising  or  reces- 
sion. 

Currents.  —  Besides  being  affected  by  the  regular 
motion  of  the  tides,  the  ocean,  in  many  parts  of  its  ex 
tended  bounds,  is  influenced  by  currents,  which  act  con 
tinually   in  particular  directions.     Currents  are  the  re 
suit  of  various  causes,  such  as   temperature,   winds 
peculiar  construction  of  coasts  and  inlets,  but  chiefly 
as  is  believed,  of  the  rotary  motion  of  the  earth.     The 
globe  in  its  diurnal  motion  leaves,  as  it  were,  the  fluid 
behind  ;  and  hence  there  is  a  perpetual  flow  of  the  sea 
from  the  western  coast  of  Europe  and  Africa  towards 
the  eastern  landboard,  as  it  is  called,  of  America,  and 
from  the  west  of  America  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia. 
This  movement  is  chiefly  confined   to  the  tropics, 
unless  where  the  sea  is  turned  aside  by  the  land,  and 
caused  to  diverge  towards  the  north  or  south.     If  we 
start,  in  a  survey  of  this  motion,  from  the  western  coast 
of  America,  we  find  it  producing  a  constant  current 
across  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Pacific,  till  it  is  turned 
off  by  Asia  and  Australia.     A  great   division  of  its 
force  is  directed  through  the  seas  on  both  sides  of  the 
latter  continent,  and  so  on  through  the  Indian  Ocean, 
and  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  till  it  reaches  the 
free  expanse  of  the  Atlantic,  across  which  it  proceeds 
n  the  same  manner  as  across  the  Pacific.     The  current 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  75 

of  the  Atlantic  strikes  the  coast  of  Brazil,  and  breaks 
at  Cape  St.  Augustine  into  two  divisions,  one  of  which 
proceeds  round  Cape  Horn  into  the  Pacific,  while  the 
other  advances  through  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  so  on  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  latter  branch  conspires,  with 
the  vast  issue  of  fresh  waters  which  pours  into  the  Gulf 
of  IMexico,  to  raise  the  level  of  that  sea  above  that  of  the 
neighbouring  ocean,  and,  causing  the  surplus  to  force  its 
way  out  between  Florida  and  Cuba,  produces  the  cele- 
brated Gulf  Stream,  which  is  perhaps  the  most  power- 
ful sea  current  in  the  world. 

It  is  obvious,  that  to  the  mariner  currents  must  be  of 
great  importance.  From  Portugal,  for  instance,  ships 
have  sailed  to  the  Bight  of  Benin,  on  the  Guinea  coast, 
being  150  leagues,  in  two  days,  though  they  could  not 
return  in  less  than  seven  weeks.  It  is  also  common  for 
vessels  to  descend  to  the  latitude  of  the  Canary  Islands, 
in  order  to  get  into  the  tropical  current  across  the 
Atlantic,  which  carries  them  to  America  in  a  compara- 
tively short  time  :  it  was  by  this  current  that  Columbus 
was  carried  so  smoothly  on  in  his  first  voyage  to  the 
new  continent.  The  Pacific,  it  is  said,  can  be  crossed  in 
this  way  in  about  ten  weeks,  being  at  the  rate  of  a  thou- 
sand miles  per  week  ;  and  some  mariners  have  expressed 
an  opinion  that  China  might  be  reached  by  this  route  in 
less  time  than  by  the  shorter  course  round  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

For  the  same  reason  that  the  sea  flows  from  east  to 
west,  the  air  has  a  tendency,  when  not  counteracted 
by  other  causes,  to  move  in  the  same  direction.  The 
earth  in  its  motion  leaves  the  air,  like  the  sea,  a  little 
behind  it ;  in  other  words,  does  not  carry  it  so  fast  for- 


76       GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEAV  OF  THE  EARTH. 

ward :  hence  uliat  are  called  the  trade  winds,  which, 
operating  in  the  same  direction  with  the  sea  currents, 
increase  the  facility  of  navigation  to  the  westward  in  a 
very  great  degree.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  remark- 
ing, that  these  natural  phenomena,  which,  it  is  to  be 
supposed,  might  have  been  counteracted  or  neutraliz- 
ed from  the  beginning,  must  have  been  designed  for 
some  end  useful  and  necessary  in  the  economy  of  the 
woi'ld.  Perhaps,  like  the  diffusive  powers  given  to  the 
seeds  of  certain  plants,  they  were  intended  to  aid  in  the 
dispersion  of  the  human  race  over  the  globe.  It  is 
well  known  that  population  exists  in  many  places, 
which  appear  cut  off  from  all  connection  with  others 
by  seas  that  must  have  been  impassable  by  navigators 
m  the  early  ages  of  their  art.  Men  could  only  be 
drifted  to  such  places  in  early  ages  by  the  currents 
of  the  sea  and  air ;  and  thus  the  cultivation  of  large 
and  important  regions  must  have  commenced  much 
earlier  than  would  have  otherwise  been  the  case. 

Besides  the  grand  equatorial  or  tropical  current, 
there  is  one  of  a  less  decided  character  from  the  poles 
to  the  equator.  The  sea  under  the  tropics  evaporates 
to  a  greater  extent  than  elsewhere,  by  the  influence  of 
a  vertical  sun.  The  vapors  are  apt  to  proceed  towards 
the  north  and  south,  where  they  descend  in  rain.  A 
surplus  of  water  is  thus  produced  in  the  high  latitudes, 
which  naturally  flows  back  towards  the  equator.  Hence 
a  constant  but  comparatively  slight  flow  from  the  north 
and  south  towards  that  warmer  region  of  the  earth. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  stream,  large  masses  of  ice 
are  constantly  becoming  detached  from  the  polar  stores, 
and  drifted  to  the  tropics.     In  some  of  the  bays  on  the 


GEOCiKAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  77 

north  side  of  Iceland,  this  frigid  substance  comes  in 
vast  quantities,  insomuch  as  to  choke  them  up  to  the 
depth  of  500  feet.  What  is  still  more  strange,  these 
masses  of  ice  are  sometimes  mixed  up  with  trees,  some 
of  which  are  known  to  be  the  produce  of  the  torrid 
zone  in  America  :  this  is  accounted  for  by  the  action 
of  the  northern  division  of  the  great  current  which 
parts  at  Cape  St.  Augustine.  That  division,  after 
rushing  into  and  out  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  proceeds 
northward  to  Newfoundland,  and  thence  at  a  high 
latitude  returns  athwart  the  Atlantic,  finally  sweeping 
along  the  western  coasts  of  Europe,  and  rejoining  the 
current  which  gave  its  first  impulse.  By  this  current, 
it  is  supposed,  American  timber  may  easily  be  carried 
to  the  northern  shores  of  Iceland. 

The  operation  of  the  tides  is  less  observable  in  the 
great  currents  we  have  alluded  to,  than  in  those  which 
prevail  in  the  more  secluded  seas.  The  abstraction  of 
water  from  a  secluded  sea  by  the  recess  of  the  tide, 
and  the  rush  inwards  produced  by  its  flow,  are  suffi- 
cient of  themselves  to  cause  veiy  impetuous  currents, 
more  particularly  in  the  narrow  channels  by  which 
the  inland  seas  are  connected  with  the  ocean.  We 
find  it  stated,  in  a  pamphlet  respecting  the  condition  of 
the  Orkney  Islands,  that  the  Pentland  Frith,  which 
separates  the  continent  of  Great  Britain  from  Orkney, 
"  has  no  fewer  than  four-and-twenty  contrary  currents 
of  the  tide  at  the  flood  of  spring,  besides  numerous 
sets  and  eddies,  which,  under  the  local  names  of  icelh, 
swelches,  and  roosts,  boil  more  madly  on  the  Orcadian 
shore,  than  ever  did  witch's  caldron  on  the  kindred  coast 
of  Norway,  if  we  may  believe  old  tradition  and  Bishop 
7* 


78       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Pontoppedan.  '  The  Boar  of  Papa,'  at  the  opposite 
exireme  of  Orkney,  is  another  terrible  tide  ;  when  he 
gets  a  vessel  in  his  tusks,  he  shakes  the  masts  out, — 
an  operation  which,  in  the  country  phrase,  goes  by 
the  name  of  hackling.'''' 

The  contrariety  of  influences  which  are  sometimes 
brought  into  play  by  polar  and  equatorial  currents,  and 
those  produced  by  the  tides,  occasion  many  jjhenome- 
na  extremely  perplexing,  and  sometimes  very  dangei'- 
ous,  to  the  navigator.  In  the  Cattegat,  by  which  the 
Baltic  is  connected  with  the  German  Ocean,  one  cur- 
rent always  goes  in  by  the  side  next  Jutland,  while 
another  issues  forth  by  that  nearest  to  Sweden.  In 
like  manner,  a  current  seems  to  proceed  along  the 
eastern  coast  of  Britain  towards  the  south,  while  an- 
other, flowing  in  an  opposite  direction,  advances  along 
the  coast  of  Holland.  What  is  still  more  curious, 
under-currents  are  sometimes  found  going  in  a  contra- 
ry direction  to  those  upon  the  surface.  At  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar,  it  is  said  there  is  always  a  surface  cur- 
rent going  in,  as  if  to  supply  a  want  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, while,  at  a  certain  depth,  there  is  another  going 
out.  So  strong  and  so  steady  is  this  contrariety  in  the 
Caribbean  Sea,  that  a  boat  may  be  moored  by  drop- 
ping a  heavy  subtance  to  a  certain  depth ;  the  upper 
current  impels  the  boat  one  way,  while  the  under  one 
draws  the  sunk  object  another,  and  between  the  two 
the  boat  is  steadied. 

Two  cun'ents  of  equal  force,  but  of  different  direc- 
tions, meeting  in  a  narrow  passage  or  gut,  will  cause 
a  whirlpool,  a  phenomenon  which  has  ignorantly  been 
said   to   be    produced    by    subterranean    rivers,   gulfs, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  TPIE  EAUTH.  79 

cliasms,  &ic.,  but  essentially  is  only  an  cdcly,  produced 
by  the  contact  of  two  currents,  meeting  on  a  centre. 
The  whirlpool  named  the  Euripides,  near  the  coast  of 
Greece,  alternately  absorbs  and  rejects  the  water  seven 
times  in  twenty-four  hours.  Charybdis,  in  the  Straits 
of  Sicily,  absorbs  and  rejects  the  water  thrice  in  twenty- 
four  hours ;  and  the  Maelstrom,  on  the  coast  of  Nor- 
\vay,  which  is  considerably  the  largest,  absorbs,  every 
six  hours,  water,  ships,  whales,  in  short,  every  thing 
that  approaches  its  malignant  influence,  and  the  next 
six  hours  is  employed  in  casting  them  uj)  again. 
These  eddies  are  sometimes  augmented  by  the  force 
(if  contending  tides,  or  by  the  action  of  the  v/inds. 
They  draw  vessels  along,  dash  them  upon  rocks,  or 
engulf  then!  in  their  furious  vortices,  the  wreck  not 
appearing  until  some  time  afl'^r. 

^V^VTERSP0XJTS.  —  Marine  waterspouts  are  caused  by 
the  action  of  atmospheric  currents,  and  are  as  danger- 
ous in  their  effects  as  they  are  wonderful  in  appear- 
ance. Malta  Brun  thus  describes  them :  — "  Under- 
neath a  dense  cloud,  the  sea  becomes  agitated  with 
violent  commotions  ;  the  waves  dart  rapidly  towards 
the  centre  of  the  agitated  mass  of  water,  on  arriving 
at  which  they  are  dispersed  into  aqueous  vapors,  and 
rise  whirling  round  in  a  spiral  direction  towards  the 
cloud.  This  conical  ascending  column  is  met  by 
another  descending  column,  which  leans  towards  the 
water,  and  joins  with  it.  In  many  cases  the  marine 
column  is  from  fifty  to  eighty  fathoms  in  diameter  near 
its  base.  Both  columns,  however,  diminish  towards 
the  middle,  where  they  unite ;  so  that  here  they  are 
not  more  than  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter.     The  en- 


80       GEOGRAPHICAL  \IEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

tire  column  presents  itself  in  the  shape  of  a  hollow 
cylinder,  or  tube  of  glass  empty  within.  It  glides 
over  the  sea  without  any  wind  being  felt ;  indeed, 
several  have  been  seen  at  once  following  different  di- 
rections. When  the  cloud  and  the  marine  base  of 
the  waterspout  move  with  unequal  velocities,  the  lower 
cone  is  often  seen  to  incline  sideways,  or  even  to  bend, 
and  finally  to  burst  in  pieces.  A  noise  is  then  heard 
like  the  noise  of  a  cataract  falling  in  a  deep  valley. 
Lightning  frequently  issues  from  the  very  bosom  of 
ihe  waterspout,  particularly  when  it  breaks ;  but  no 
ihunder  is  ever  heard." 

Sailors,  to  prevent  the  imminent  danger  which  their 
vessels  would  be  exposed  to  by  coming  in  contact  with 
diese  tremendous  columns,  discharge  upon  them  a 
cannon-ball,  which,  passing  through  them,  causes  them 
invariably  to  burst,  and  consequently  removes  all 
chance  of  injury  connected  with  them.  This  phe- 
nomenon is  accounted  for  in  the  following  manner :  — 
Two  winds  meet ;  a  vortex  ensues ;  any  cloud  which 
happens  to  lie  between  them  is  condensed  into  a  coni- 
cal form,  and  turned  round  with  great  velocity ;  this 
whirling  motion  drives  from  the  centre  of  the  cloud 
all  the  particles  contained  in  it ;  a  vacuum  is  thereby 
produced,  and  water,  or  any  other  body  lying  beneath 
this  vacuum,  is  carried  into  it  upon  the  usual  and  well 
known  principle.  The  cannon-ball,  breaking  this 
cylinder,  which  is  always  partly  hollow,  causes  it  to 
fall  to  pieces,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  touch  upon  the 
surface  of  a  soap-ball  reduces  the  resplendent  mass 
to  a  drop  of  common  water. 

Temperature  of  the  Sea.  —  The  temperature  of 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       81 

the  sea,  like  that  of  the  au-,  is  liable  to  be  aflccted  by 
the  latitude  and  the  season  of  the  year,  but  not  to 
nearly  so  great  an  extent  as  the  air.  Within  the  trop- 
ics, where  the  season  has  hardly  any  influence,  it  is 
generally  found  at  about  80°  or  81°  of  Fahrenheit's 
thermometer,  being  somewhat  more,  in  general,  than 
the  warmth  of  the  neighbouring  air,  which  is  deprived 
to  a  certam  extent  of  its  heat,  in  order  to  carry  on  the 
process  of  evaporation.  Taking  the  month  of  March 
as  one  of  those  during  which  the  heat  of  the  sun  must 
be  equally  determined  in  both  directions  by  latitude, 
it  appears  that  in  that  month  the  sea  has  been  found,  at 
Lat.  11°  32'  S.,  of  80.6°  Fahrenheit ;  at  Lat.  31°  34'  S., 
of  75.7°  ;  at  Lat.  40°  3G'  S.,  of  59.9°  ;  though  in  some 
instances  it  has  been  found  several  degrees  more  or 
less  at  the  same  season,  and  under  nearly  the  same 
latitude.  The  chief  cause  of  the  variation  is  the  per- 
petual flow  of  water  from  the  poles  to  the  equator, 
which  has  been  already  explained.  It  has  been  pretty 
nearly  ascertained,  that,  in  the  tropical  seas,  it  ranges 
about  9°  of  Fahrenheit ;  in  the  middle  of  the  temper- 
ate zone  about  12°  ;  and  after  that  decreases  with  a 
more  rapid  and  more  equable  gradation.  The  tempera- 
ture of  the  sea  is  also  affected  by  its  depth.  In  deep 
seas,  between  the  tropics,  the  heat  diminishes  towards 
the  bottom  ;  while,  in  more  frigid  latitudes,  it  is  some- 
times observed  to  become  warmer.  The  sea  is  a  bad 
conductor  of  heat ;  the  solar  rays  can  only  penetrate 
about  three  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  nor  does 
the  light  descend  any  farther.  A  small  difference  is 
discovered  between  the  observations  on  temperature 
in  the  two  hemispheres.  For  the  first  25°  towards  the 
6 


82      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

south,  the  decrease  of  heat  is  slower,  and  after  that 
more  rapid,  than  towards  the  north. 

It  must  be  evident  to  every  one  who  considers  the 
gi'eat  mass  of  waters  composing  the  ocean,  and  the 
interchange  of  position  which  must  always  be  taking 
place,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  between  the  upper 
and  warmer  parts  and  the  lower  and  colder,  that  this 
comparative  equability  of  temperature  is  unavoidable, 
even  if  there  were  no  other  causes  to  account  for  it. 
The  uses  of  that  equability  are  still  more  obvious,  and 
must  add  greatly  to  the  wonder  we  always  experience 
when  the  economy  of  nature  is  minutely  traced.  By 
this  equability,  the  natural  result  of  high  latitude  is 
more  or  less  corrected,  for  the  advantage  of  the  human 
beings  who  happen  to  be  placed  there.  A  milder  air 
breathing  from  the  sea  softens  the  climate  all  over  the 
adjacent  land,  and  produces  a  freshness  which  is  of  the 
greatest  service  to  vegetation.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
those  torrid  regions  where  both  animated  and  vegeta- 
ble nature  is  apt  to  sink  beneath  the  vertical  rays  of 
the  sun,  the  cooling  breath  of  the  ocean  comes,  gener- 
ally at  fixed  times,  reviving  the  parched  soil,  and  com- 
municating to  man  sensations  of  I'elief  and  pleasure, 
which  are  hardly  to  be  imagined  by  those  who  have 
not  experienced  them. 

Saline  Property  of  the  Sea.  —  The  saline  prop- 
erty of  the  sea  has  never  been  scientifically  accounted 
for.  Some  have  alleged  that  it  is  caused  by  fossil  or 
rock  salt  at  the  bottom,  while  others  maintain  that  the 
sea  is  a  homogeneous  salt  body,  that  its  waters  were 
created,  and  have  continued,  and  ever  will  continue,  in 
this  saline  condition,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  atmos- 
phere has  been  created  and  exists  as  a  compound  body. 


GEOGRArHIC^\L    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  83 

The  proportion  which  the  saHne  matters  bear  to 
the  water  varies  considerably.  The  water  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  within  the  tropics,  contains  about  one 
twenty-fourth  of  its  weight  of  saline  matters.  There, 
from  the  great  heat,  very  great  evaporation  must  go 
on  at  the  surface ;  and  from  the  great  mass  of  water, 
particularly  far  out  at  sea,  the  influence  of  rivers  in 
counteracting  the  effect  of  the  evaporation,  by  adding, 
fresh  water,  must  be  less  than  usual.  In  the  Frith  of 
Forth,  the  saline  matters  form  only  one  thirtieth  of  the 
weight  of  the  water.  There,  less  fresh  water  is  re- 
moved by  evaporation,  the  climate  being  much  colder ; 
and  the  fresh  water  supplied  by  rivers  is  greater  in  pro- 
portion, so  that  the  salt  matter  bears  a  smaller  propor- 
tion to  the  whole.  There  arc  chiefly  four  matters  con- 
tained in  sea-water,  —  common  salt  (muriate  of  soda), 
glauber  salt  (sulphate  of  soda),  muriate  of  magnesia, 
and  muriate  of  lime.  Potash  has  been  detected  in 
sea-water ;  and  it  also  contains  extremely  small  quan- 
tities of  two  simple  substances  lately  discovered,  name- 
ly, iodine  and  bromine,  in  union  with  hydrogen.  Dis- 
regarding all  except  the  four  first,  the  composition  of 
the  water  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as  analyzed  by  Dr. 
Marcet,  may  be  stated  as  follows.  The  quantity  ex- 
amined was  500  grains. 

Water      .         .         .  .         .     478.420 

Muriate  of  soda      .  .         .           13.3 

Sulphate  of  soda       .  .         .        2.33 

Muriate  of  lime     .  .         .             0.995 

Muriate  of  magnesia  .         .         4.955 


500  grains. 


84  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Thus  it  is  scon  that  muriate  of  soda,  or  common  saU, 
is  the  principal  solid  ingredient  in  the  waters  of  the 
ocean,  and  that  muriate  of  magnesia  is  the  next  in 
importance.  Sea-Avater  is  to  a  certain  degree  more 
dense,  or  of  greater  specific  gravity,  than  pure  water. 
According  to  Dr.  Arnot,  "  a  sliip  draws  less  water,  or 
swims  lighter,  by  one  thirty-fifth,  in  the  dense,  salt 
%vater  of  the  sea,  than  in  the  fresh  water  of  a  river ; 
and  for  the  same  reason,  a  man  swimming  supports 
himself  more  easily  in  the  sea  than  in  a  river."  Sea- 
water  freezes  at  28°  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer. 
Fresh  water,  as  is  well  known,  expands  equally  in  its 
volume,  8°  above  or  below  40°,  that  is  to  say,  it  ex- 
pands by  an  increase  of  temperature  up  to  48°,  or  by 
a  diminution  of  temperature  down  to  32°,  the  common 
freezing  point,  when  it  assumes  the  ciystallized  or  icy 
form.  Thus  40°  is  the  point  of  mean  density,  or  of 
smallest  volume,  in  fresh  water.  By  the  recent  ex- 
j)eriments  of  chemists,  it  is  found  that  sea-water  does 
not  expand  by  a  diminution  of  temperature  down  to 
32°,  because  it  is  reluctant  to  assume  the  ciystallized 
form,  and  when  it  does  freeze  at  28°,  its  ice  is  very 
imperfect,  being  full  of  pores  and  interstices,  and 
composed  in  a  great  degree  of  thin  spicular  flakes, 
inclosing  drops  of  a  strong  briny  liquid  which  cannot 
be  crystallized. 

Sea-water,  on  being  boiled,  or  exposed  in  small  quan- 
tities to  the  sun's  rays,  evaporates,  and  leaves  a  resi- 
duum of  common  salt;  and  the  manufacture  of  this 
article,  by  means  of  pans  and  furnaces,  is  carried  on 
upon  the  shores  of  almost  every  civilized  countr}'. 
Innumerable  have  been  the  attempts  to  render  sea- 


GEOGRArmCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       85 

water  useful  as  an  clement  of  food  or  drink,  in  cases 
of  great  scarcity  of  fresh  water  on  shipboard,  but  in 
no  case  has  a  perfectly  pure  or  sweet  water  been  pro- 
cured. Filtration  has  no  effect,  because  the  saline 
matters  in  the  water  are  chemically  united  with  it,  and 
cannot  be  removed  by  means  merely  mechanical.  The 
process  of  purifying  the  water  to  the  best  advantage 
consists  in  distilling  it,  the  vapor  being  gathered  and 
condensed  into  a  liquid.  But  this  liquid  is  not  entirely 
fresh  or  sweet,  in  consequence  of  its  containing  cer- 
tain gaseous  matters  ;  and,  therefore,  after  distillation, 
the  liquid  should  for  a  length  of  time  be  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere,  so  as  to  allow  the  escape  as 
far  as  possible  of  the  gases  with  which  it  is  charged. 
A  small  quantity  of  potash  or  soap  put  into  the  water 
previous  to  distillation,  is  said  to  be  useful  in  purifying 
it,  and  rendering  it  more  palatable. 

The  following  plan  for  procuring  fresh  water  at  sea, 
in  a  case  of  emergency,  was  pursued  by  a  Captain 
Chapman,  when  sailing  off  the  north  coast  of  Finland. 
By  accident  he  lost  nearly  all  his  water ;  and  while 
thus  circumstanced,  a  gale  of  wind  arose,  which  blew 
hard  for  three  weeks,  and  drove  him  far  out  to  sea. 
The  captain  was  in  great  anxiety.  The  water  in  the 
ship  would  last  but  a  short  time,  and  he  had  no  still  on 
board.  But  necessity,  the  mother  of  invention,  aided 
him  in  contriving  one.  By  means  of  an  old  pitch- 
pot,  with  a  wooden  cover,  and  a  pipe  made  of  a  pew- 
ter plate,  and  a  cask  for  a  receiver,  he  commenced 
operations.  He  put  seven  quarts  of  sea-water  and  an 
ounce  of  soap  into  the  pot,  and  placed  it  on  the  fire. 
As  soon  as  the  pot  boiled,  the  condensed  vapor  began 
XX.— 8 


86       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

to  flow  through  the  pipe  into  the  receiver.  In  half  an 
hour  he  obtained  a  quart  of  fresli  water.  This  water, 
though  not  very  palatable,  answered  for  all  necessary 
puposes.  They  kept  their  still  constantly  at  work, 
and  got  a  gallon  of  water  every  two  hours ;  and  thus 
the  crew  were  saved  from  great  suffering,  if  not  from 
actual  death. 

Phosphorescence  of  the  Sea.  —  Every  one  who 
has  been  at  sea,  and  observed  the  action  of  the  waters 
at  night,  must  have  occasionally,  remarked  certain 
luminous  appearances  m  the  waves.  Accounts  of  the 
phosphorescence  of  the  sea  may  be  found  in  the  nar- 
rative of  almost  every  voyager.  The  following  de- 
scription is  given  by  Mr.  Stewart,  in  his  "  Journal  of  a 
Residence  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  "  :  —  "  The  exhi- 
bitions of  the  day  have  been  followed  at  night  by  a 
phosphoretic  scene  of  unrivalled  splendor  and  sublim- 
ity. We  had  often  before  observed  luminous  points, 
•  lilce  sparlcs  of  fire,  floating  here  and  there  in  the  fur- 
row of  our  vessel,  but  now  the  whole  ocean  was 
literally  bespangled  with  them.  Notwithstanding  the 
smoothness  of  the  surface,  there  is  a  considerable  swell 
of  the  sea ;  and  sparkling  as  it  did  on  eveiy  part  as 
with  fire,  the  mighty  heavings  of  its  bosom  were  inde- 
scribably magnificent.  It  seemed  as  if  the  sky  had 
fallen  to  a  level  with  the  ship,  and  all  its  stars,  in  ten- 
fold numbers  and  brilliancy,  were  rolling  about  with 
the  undulations  of  the  billows. 

"  The  horizon  in  every  direction  presented  a  line  of 
uninterrupted  light,  while  the  wide  space  intervening 
was  one  extent  of  apparent  fire.  The  sides  of  our 
vessel  appeared  kindling  to  a  blaze,  and,  as  our  bows 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       87 

occasionally  dashed  against,  a  wave,  the  flash  of  the 
concussion  gleamed  half  way  up  the  rigging,  and  illu- 
minated every  object  along  the  whole  length  of  the  ship. 
By  throwing  any  article  overboard,  a  display  of  light 
and  colors  took  place  surpassing  in  brilliancy  and 
beauty  the  finest  exhibition  of  fire-works.  A  charming 
effect  was  produced  by  a  line  coiled  to  some  length, 
and  then  cast  into  the  w^ater  at  a  distance,  and  also 
by  a  bucket  of  water  dashed  from  the  side  of  a  vessel. 
The  rudder,  too,  by  its  motions,  created  splendid  corus- 
cations at  the  stern,  and  a  flood  of  light,  by  which  our 
track  was  marked  far  behind  us.  The  smaller  fish 
were  distinctly  traceable  by  running  lines  showing 
their  rapid  course,  while  now  and  then  broad  gloam- 
ings, extending  many  yards  in  every  direction,  made 
known  the  movements  of  some  monster  of  the  deep. 
But  minuteness  will  only  weary,  without  conveying  any 
adequate  impression  of  the  scene  ;  it  would  have  been 
wise,  perhaps,  only  to  have  said  that  it  was  among  the 
most  sublime  nature  herself  ever  presents. 

"  The  cause  of  this  phenomenon  was  long  a  subject  of 
speculation  among  men  of  science,  but  is  now  satisfac- 
torily ascertained  to  be  sea-animalculee  of  the  luminous 
tribe,  particularly  the  species  Medusa.  The  Medusa 
pelucens  oUS'iT  Joseph  Banks,  and  the  Medusa  scintil- 
Iqiis  of  JNIr.  Macartney,  emit  the  most  splendid  light. 
The  degree  and  brilliancy  of  the  exhibition  are  supposed 
to  depend  on  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  and  sea.  A 
more  grand  display  than  that  which  we  have  witnessed 
probably  seldom,  if  ever,  takes  place." 

This  phenomenon  has  been  ascribed  to  various  caus- 
es, but  the  explanation  presented  by  Mr  Stewart  is  the 


88      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

one  now  most  generally  admitted.  The  little  animal 
by  which  this  light  is  produced  is  sometimes  called 
the  glow-worm  of  the  sea.  It  is  exceedingly  small, 
thin,  and  transparent,  and,  like  the  fire-fly,  with 
which  we  are  all  acquainted,  emits  a  brilliant  light. 
The  sea  contains  many  animals  of  this  nature,  of  differ- 
ent species.  The  Medusas  have  little  antennae  or  horns, 
from  which  they  dart  a  strong  light,  while  the  rest  of 
their  body  remains  in  obscurity.  All  the  zoophytes 
appear  to  be  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  phosphorescent. 

Some  accurate  observers  have  also  thought,  that  in 
addition  to  this  glow-worm  light,  there  is  a  luminous 
appearance  originating  from  the  decomposition  of  veg- 
etable and  animal  substances,  similar  to  the  phospho- 
rescence of  rotten  wood. 

The  Color  of  the  Ocean.  —  The  water  of  the 
sea  is  colorless  when  examined  in  small  quantities, 
but  when  viewed  in  the  mass  in  the  wide  ocean,  it  ap- 
pears to  be  of  an  azure  or  blue  tint.  The  cause  of 
this  generally,  blue  color  of  the  deep  sea  has  not  been 
as  yet  clearly  explained  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  in  some 
degree  accounted  for  by  reference  to  certain  principles 
connected  with  the  science  of  optics.  Probably  most 
are  aware  that  light  consists  of  the  set  of  coloi's  which 
we  see  so  beautifully  displayed  in  the  rainbow.  Now, 
it  is  a  law  of  light,  that,  when  it  enters  any  body,  and 
is  either  reflected  or  transmitted  to  the  eye,  a  certain 
portion  of  it,  consisting  of  more  or  less  of  its  colors,  is 
lost  in  the  body.  The  remainder,  being  reflected,  strikes 
our  visual  sense,  and,  whatever  color  that  may  be, 
the  object  seems  of  that  color.  Now,  it  chances  that 
the  portion  of  light  most  apt  to  be  reflected  from  masses 


GEOGRArmCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       89 

of  transparent  fluid  is  the  blue  ;  and  hence  it  is,  or  sup- 
posed to  be,  that  the  air  and  sea  both  appear  of  this 
color. 

While  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  ocean  is  gen- 
erally of  a  blue  color,  it  is  equally  certain  that  there 
are  many  portions  of  sea  in  which  a  different  hue  ap- 
pears. The  causes  of  these  exceptions  from  the  rule 
seem  to  be  of  various  kinds.  Frequently,  the  ordinaiy 
color  of  the  sea  is  affected  by  the  admixture  of  foreign 
substances,  these  being  sometimes  of  a  living  and  or- 
ganic nature,  and  sometimes  the  reverse.  The  most 
simple  example  of  the  latter  class  of  cases  is  the  com- 
mon flooding  of  any  stream,  when  quantities  of  mud 
and  earthy  particles  are  introduced  into  the  river,  and 
emptied  into  the  sea.  What  is  thus  strikingly  seen  on 
cveiy  coast,  on  a  small  scale,  will  readily  be  conceived 
to  be  of  infinitely  wider  extent  in  the  mighty  rivers  of 
the  principal  continents  of  the  globe. 

Thus  is  it  with  the  great  streams  of  South  America, 
where  the  Plata  forms  a  sloping  bank  which  extends  a 
hundred  miles  into  the  Atlantic,  and  still  more  conspicu- 
ously in  the  mighty  Amazon,  with  a  course  of  3,000 
miles  and  a  breadth  at  the  mouth  of  150  miles.  Its  im- 
mense body  of  water  often  rushes  with  a  dreadful  im- 
petus and  velocity  into  the  ocean,  freshening  its  waters 
to  the  distance  of  250  miles  from  shore.  Hence,  then, 
in  such  circumstances,  the  mariner,  when  still  far  from 
land,  is  not  surprised  when  he  ploughs  an  ocean  quite 
of  a  brownish  hue. 

It  is  from  the  same  cause  that  the  well  known  Yelloio 
Sea  acquires  its  appearance  and  appropriate  name. 
Mr.  Barrow  estimates  the  quantity  of  yellow-colored  mud 
8* 


90  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAETH. 

which  is  transmitted  by  the  Hoang-ho  or  Yellow  River, 
whose  course  is  2,000  miles,  at  2,000,000  of  solid  feet 
an  hour,  or  48,000,000  a  day,  or  17,580,000,000  a 
year.  "  Supposing,"  he  adds,  "  the  mean  depth  of  the 
Yellow  Sea  to  be  120  feet,  the  quantity  of  earth  brought 
down  would,  if  accumulated  together,  be  sufficient  to 
fill  up  to  the  surface  of  the  sea  an  island  of  the  extent 
of  a  mile  square  every  seventy  days."  The  testimony 
of  Captain  Basil  Hall  is  quite  satisfactoiy  as  to  the  result 
of  all  this.  "  The  water  of  the  Yellow  Sea,  over  which 
we  were  sailing,  was  contaminated  by  the  intermixture 
of  mud  slightly  yellow  in  its  color.  We  sailed  on 
directly  across  this  sea  for  two  whole  days  without 
seeing  land,  and  gradually  diminishing  the  depth  of 
water,  till  at  last  we  began  to  have  some  apprehension 
that  we  should  fairly  stick  in  the  mud.  It  was  soon 
afterwards  discovered  that  the  brig  was  actually  sailing 
along  with  her  keel  in  the  mud,  which  was  sufficiently 
indicated  by  a  long  yellow  train  in  our  wake.  Some 
inconvenience  was  caused  by  this  extreme  shallowness, 
but  there  was  not  in  reality  much  danger,  as  it  was  as- 
certained, by  forcing  long  poles  into  tlie  ground,  that 
for  many  fathoms  under  the  surface  on  which  the 
sounding-lead  rested,  the  bottom  consisted  of  nothing 
but  mud  formed  of  an  impalpable  powder,  without 
the  least  particle  of  sand  or  gravel." 

Still  more  striking  results  arise  from  living  vege- 
tables and  animals.  The  influence  of  vegetables  in 
coloring  large  masses  of  water  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  reference  to  the  Lake  of  Geneva  and  the  Red 
Sea.  The  waters  of  the  Lake  usually  are  of  a  fixed 
pale  blue  color,  the  delicate  beauty  of  which  arrests 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  91 

the  admiration  of  every  traveller.  But  while  such  is 
the  proi)cr  color  of  these  waters,  occasionally,  though 
rarely,  they  are  as  decidedly  of  a  green  hue ;  and  we 
have  it  upon  the  authority  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  that 
on  these  occasions  the  change  of  color  is  produced  by 
the  ^\•ater  being  impregnated  with  vegetable  substances. 
And  respecting  the  Red  Sea,  let  us  hear  the  testimony 
of  the  eminent  naturalist  Ehrenberg.  "I  was  for 
many  months  at  Tor,  on  the  Red  Sea,  near  Mount 
Sinai.  I  there  observed  the  striking  phenomenon  of 
the  whole  bay  being  of  a  bloody  color  ;  the  main  sea, 
beyond  the  coral  reef,  was  as  usual  colorless.  The 
short  waves  of  the  calm  sea  carried  to  the  shore  a 
blood-colored  shining  mass,  which  it  deposited  on  the 
sands,  so  that  the  whole  bay,  fully  half  a  league  in 
length,  at  the  ebb  of  the  tide,  exhibited  a  blood-red 
border  more  than  a  foot  wide.  This  appearance  was 
not  permanent,  but  periodical.  It  attracted  my  atten- 
tion as  explanatory  of  the  name  of  the  Red  Sea,  a  name 
hitherto  of  difficult  explanation.  Upon  examination, 
this  color  was  found  to  be  produced  by  one  of  the 
algfe,  a  marine  vegetable.'" 

The  extraordinary  part  which  animals  play  in  color- 
ing the  ocean,  may  be  demonstrated  by  alluding  to  the 
vast  tracts  of  the  Northern  Sea,  which  among  mariners 
are  familiarly  known  as  green  loater,  and  which  do  not, 
under  any  circumstances,  assume  a  blue  tint.  Mr. 
Scoresby  thus  describes  them :  — "  After  a  long  run 
through  waters  of  the  common  blue  color,  the  sea 
became  green  and  less  transparent.  The  color  was 
nearly  grass-green,  with  a  shade  of  black.  Sometimes 
the  transition  between  the  green  and  blue  water  is  pro- 


92  GEOGRzVPIIICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

gressive,  passing  tlirough  the  intermediate  shades  in  the 
space  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  ;  at  others,  it  is  so  sudden 
that  the  line  of  separation  is  seen  like  the  ripple  of  a 
current,  and  the  two  qualities  of  water  keep  apj)arcntly 
as  distinct  as  the  waters  of  a  large  muddy  river  on  first 
entering  the  sea.  In  1817,  I  fell  in  with  such  narrow 
stripes  of  various-colored  water,  that  we  passed  streams 
of  pale  green,  olive-green,  and  transparent  blue,  in  the 
course  of  ten  minutes  sailing."  These  green  regions 
extend  for  tens  of  thousands  of  miles,  and  it  has  been 
distinctly  proved' that  the  peculiar  color  is  produced  by  in- 
conceivable multitudes  of  microscopic  animals,  principal- 
ly minute  sea-blubber,  medusa^  and  infusoria:.  Some 
of  these  animals  are  green,  and  directly  produce  the  color 
which  is  exhibited,  but  many  more  are  yellow,  which 
color,  combining  with  the  blue  of  the  sea- water,  will 
also,  as  every  one  knows,  produce  a  green  tint. 

Other  appearances,  proceeding  from  a  similar  cause, 
and,  if  possible,  still  more  striking,  are  also  witnessed. 
Thus,  a  red  color,  sometimes  characterized  as  blood  or 
carmine  red,  frequently  astonishes  the  voyager.  The 
water  of  the  Gulf  of  California  in  the  Northern  Pacific 
is  reddish,  whence  it  is  sometimes  named  the  Vermil- 
ion Sea.  Captain  Colnet,  in  the  interesting  account 
of  his  voyage,  states,  "  That  the  set  of  the  currents 
on  the  coast  of  Chili  may  at  all  times  be  discover- 
3d  by  noticing  the  direction  of  the  beds  of  small 
blubber  with  which  the  coast  abounds,  and  from  which 
the  water  derives  a  color  like  that  of  blood.  I  have 
often  been  engaged,"  he  adds,  "  for  a  whole  day  in 
passing  through  various  sets  of  them." 

The  celebrated  naturalist,  D'Orbigny,  makes  similar 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       93 

remarks  concerning  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic.  "  There 
are  immense  tracts,"  says  he,  "off the  '.oast  of  Brazil, 
filled  with  small  animals  so  numerous  as  to  impart  a  red 
color  to  the  sea  ;  large  portions  are  thus  highly  colored, 
and  receive  from  the  sailors  the  name  of  the  Brazil 
Bank.  This  bank  extends  over  a  great  part  of  the 
coast  of  that  country,  keeping  at  nearly  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  shore.  Another  bank  of  the  same  sort 
occurs  near  Cape  Horn,  in  Lat.  57°  S." 

Captain  Cook,  in  his  third  voyage,  encountered  the 
same  appearances,  and  states,  "  That  on  examination  the 
phenomenon  was  found  to  proceed  from  an  infinity  of 
little  animals,  which,  when  viewed  by  the  microscope, 
had  the  shape  of  cray-fish  of  a  red  color."  Hence  we 
are  not  to  wonder,  that,  according  to  an  intelligent  mar- 
iner, "  The  southern  seas  sometimes  presented  an  ap- 
pearance which  terrified  their  early  navigators,  who, 
seeing  large  spaces  of  the  sea  of  a  blood-red  color,  con- 
ceived it  a  portent  of  some  dreadful  catastrophe." 
These  singular  appearances  are  not,  however,  confined 
to  southern  regions.  At  all  events,  Mr.  Scoresby 
narrates,  that  he  noticed  in  his  last  voyage,  in  1823, 
some  insulated  patches  of  reddish-brown  water,  which 
were  found  to  be  occasioned  by  animalculse  ;  and  often, 
too,  were  the  icebergs  and  snows  tipped  with  an  orange- 
yellow  stain.  "  The  animal,"  he  adds,  "  which  gives 
this  peculiar  color  to  the  sea,  is  about  the  size  of  a  pin's 
head,  transparent,  and  marked  with  twelve  distinct 
patches  of  a  brownish  color."  The  same  appearances 
have  not  unfrcquently  been  noticed  in  fresh  water  ;  and, 
under  the  name  of  blood-rain,  have  sometimes  caused 
no  small  alarm  over  wide  districts. 


94      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

We  cannot  attempt  to  account  for  all  these  appear- 
ances, but  may  remark  that  M.  Ehrenberg,  in  the  step- 
pes of  Siberia,  examined  some  of  these  waters.  "  In  a 
fen,"  he  remarks,  "  with  a  pool  of  water,  the  dark  red 
blood-color  was  vei-y  striking,  even  at  a  distance.  This 
color  I  found  on  examination  was  confined  to  the  slimy 
surface,  which  in  different  places  formed  a  shining  skin. 
The  red  color  was  darkest  up  the  edge  of  the  marsh. 
I\I.  Chantran,  in  the  year  1797,  examined  in  France  a 
pond  which  exhibited  the  same  appearances,  the  water 
being  of  a  brilliant  red  color,  with  a  shade  between  cin- 
nabar and  carmine ;  as  did  Weber  in  Germany,  near 
Halle,  in  1790.  In  all  these  latter  instances,  the  color 
was  produced  by  infusory  animals.  Milk-white  is 
another  color  which  is  not  unfrequently  mentioned. 
Thus  Captain  Tuckey  states,  that,  near  Cape  Palmas, 
upon  the  coast  of  Guinea,  his  vessel  appeared  to  move 
in  milk,  which  circumstance  arose  from  the  multitude 
of  animals  upon  the  surface,  which  obscured  the  natural 
color  of  the  liquid.  And,  once  more,  the  existence  of  a 
yellow-colored  sea  from  the  same  cause  is  satisfactorily 
established,  "  In  approaching  the  south  point  of  Amer- 
ica," says  Captain  Colnet,  "  we  this  forenoon  passed 
several  fields  of  spawn,  which  caused  the  water  to  bear 
the  appearance  of  barley,  covering  the  surface  of  a 
bank." 

These  causes  of  varied  color  in  the  ocean,  however 
striking  in  themselves,  are  not  likely  to  mislead  any 
one  as  to  the  inherent  color  of  its  waters.  It  is  difierent, 
however,  with  the  class  of  causes  to  which  we  now  pro- 
ceed, and  which  we  may  arrange  under  the  head  of 
the  reflection  of  colored  rays  from  the  bed  or  bottom  of 


GEOGRAPHICAL,  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       95 

the  sea.  Sometimes,  indeed,  lliough  rarely,  these  ap- 
pearances arc  quite  as  singular  as  any  we  have  hitherto 
considered.  Tlius,  m  the  Bay  of  Loango,  the  waters 
arc"  almost  always  of  a  deep  red  color ;  so  much  so, 
that  they  are  said  to  be  mixed  with  blood,  and  Captain 
Tuckey  satisfied  himself  that  the  bottom  is  intensely 
red.  Let  us  substitute  for  this  bright  red  bottom  one 
of  the  same  shade,  but  obscure  and  slightly  reflectmg, 
and  the  water  of  the  Bay  of  Loango  would  then  appear 
of  an  orange-yellow  color.  Far  more  frequently,  how- 
ever, the  bed  of  the  sea  is  of  a  yellow  rather  than  a  red 
hue  ;  and  if  this  color  is  at  all  bright  and  strong,  the 
slight  blue  of  the  pure  water  will  scarcely  afiect  it,  and 
then  the  waters  will  appear  yellow,  —  a  tint  which,  let  it 
be  observed,  is  in  fact  by  no  means  uncommon  on  many 
sea-shores.  But  bright  yellow  is  by  no  means  so  com- 
mon a  tint  of  sea-sand  as  is  dull  or  obscure  yellow  ;  and 
this,  owing  both  to  its  own  proper  color,  and  also  to  its 
being  obscured  by  a  great  mass  of  superimposed  water, 
Wlien  the  yellow  hue  is  thus  reduced,  the  feeble  ray 
reflected  from  the  bottom,  mixing  with  the  pale  blue  of 
the  ocean,  produces,  as  is  universally  known,  a  green 
tint,  which  is  communicated  to  the  water ;  and  this  is  one 
of  the  most  widely  spread  modifying  causes  of  change 
in  the  proper  color  of  the  sea. 

But  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  problem  still  re- 
mains ;  and  that  is,  to  account  for  the  green  color  of 
the  ocean  in  those  places  where  it  is  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  fathoms  deep,  and  where,  of  course,  every 
thing  like  reflection  from  the  bottom  is  quite  out  of  the 
question.  M.  Arago,  to  account  for  the .  phenomena 
occuriiig   under  such  circumstances,   offers   a   theory 


96       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

which  resolves  itself  into  the  principle,  that  when  the 
surface  is  troubled,  the  luminous  rays,  coming  from  the 
waves  to  the  eye,  consist  more,  of  transmitted  rays  than 
of  reflected  rays,  and  therefore  are  green.  According 
to  this  view,  the  appearances  exhibit  themselves  only 
during  a  breeze  which  disturbs  the  surface,  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  swell,  so  common  over  the  ocean.  The  ob- 
server stands  upon  the  deck  of  the  vessel,  the  billows 
often  overtopping  the  level  of  the  ship  ;  the  luminous 
rays  which  reach  the  eye  from  the  sea  must  have  pas- 
sed from  the  distant  horizon  through  one  or  more  of  the 
watery  ridges ;  thus  the  transmitted  rays  have  predom- 
inated over  the  reflected  ones,  and  so,  according  to  the 
allowed  fact,  must  be  green. 

Winds.  —  A  change  in  the  temperature,  a  diminu- 
tion of  the  vapor,  or  any  other  cause  that  may  oc- 
casion a  portion  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere  to 
contract  or  expand,  will  give  rise  to  the  aerial  cur- 
rents denominated,  winds,  which,  indeed,  bear  a  strong 
analogy  to  the  currents  which  occur  in  the  ocean. 
When  the  air  by  which  we  are  surrounded  becomes 
heated,  it  expands,  and  becomes  specifically  lighter, 
in  consequence  of  which  it  mounts  upward ;  and  the 
colder  and  denser  air  which  surrounds  the  mass  thus 
rarefied  rushes  in  to  supply  its  place.  When  the 
door  of  a  heated  apartment  is  thrown  open,  a  current 
of  air  is  thereby  immediately  produced ;  the  warm 
air  from  the  apartment  passing  out,  and  the  cold  air 
from  the  passage  rushing  in.  So,  also,  in  those  build- 
ings where  the  manufacture  of  glass  is  carried  on,  the 
heat  of  the  furnace  in  the  centre  being  intense,  a 
violent  current  of  air  may  be  observed  to  force  its  way 


GEOGEAPHICv^L    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  97 

m  Ihrough  the  doors  or  crevices  on  the  opposite  side^ 
of  the  house. 

On  iipplying  these  principles  to  account  for  the  ori- 
gin of  the  wind,  we  find,  that  when  the  rays  from  the 
sun,  by  their  reflection  from  the  earth's  surface,  have 
heated  or  rarefied  a  portion  of  the  surrounding  air,  the 
air  so  rarefied  ascends  into  the  higher  regions  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  the  colder  air  by  which  it  was  sur- 
rounded moves  forward  in  a  sensible  current  to  fill 
the  vacuity.  When,  also,  a  condensation  of  vapor 
in  the  atmosphere  suddenly  takes  place,  giving  rise  to 
clouds  which  speedily  dissolve  in  rain,  the  temperature 
of  the  surrounding  air  is  sensibly  altered,  and  the  cold- 
er, rushing  in  upon  the  warmer,  gives  rise  to  a  sudden 
gust  of  wind.  For  this  reason,  a  cold,  heavy  shower 
passing  over  head,  with  a  hasty  foil  of  snow  or  hail, 
is  often  attended  with  a  violent  and  sudden  gust  of 
wind,  which  ceases  when  the  cloud  disappears,  but  is 
renewed  when  another  cloud,  sweeping  along  in  the 
same  direction,  brings  with  it  a  fresh  blast.  Accord- 
ingly, a  whistling,  or  howling,  or  noise  of  the  wind, 
is  universally  considered  to  be  a  prognostic  of  rain, 
because  it  indicates  that  a  change  is  taking  place  in 
the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere,  owing  to  the  va- 
])or  in  its  higher  regions  being  condensed  into  rain- 
clouds. 

The  most  remarkable  winds  are  those  which  tra- 
verse the  ocean  steadily  in  one  direction,  and  are 
called  tradc-ioinds  from  their  use  in  mercantile  nav- 
igation. In  order  that  we  may  distinctly  under- 
stand the  cause  and  nature  of  the  trade-winds,  it  is 
necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  earth  in  the  centre 
7  XX.— 9 


98       GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

of  its  circumference,  at  an  equal  distance  from  the 
poles,  is  divided  by  a  line  called  the  equator  into  two 
hemispheres,  the  Northern  and  the  Southern.  By  sea- 
men this  equator  is  called  the  line ;  and  when  they 
sail  over  it,  they  are  said  to  cross  the  line.  Across 
the  equator,  cutting  it  obliquely,  there  passes  another 
great  circle  called  the  ecliptic,  which  describes  the 
path  the  sun  traverses.  It  extends  23^°  north  and 
23^°  south  of  the  equator,  which  is  the  utmost  limit 
the  sun  traverses ;  for  when  arrived  at  either  of  these 
boundaries,  he  again  seems  to  return  towards  the  equa- 
tor. It  must  be  vciy  evident  that  the  region  of  the 
earth  included  within  a  circle  di-awn  23|°  north  and 
23-1 "  south  of  the  equator,  —  which  will  comprehend 
the  greatest  portion  of  Africa,  a  considerable  part  of 
Asia  and  America,  and  many  large,  fertile,  and  popu- 
lous islands  in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  —  will  receive 
constantly  the  solar  rays  in  a  direction  so  little  oblique, 
that  the  most  intolerable  heat  might  there  be  antici- 
pated. It  was  therefore  called  the  torrid  zone  ;  and 
the  limits  at  which  the  sun  stops,  and  appears  to  re- 
trace his  course,  have  received  the  name  of  tropics,  or 
circles  of  return. 

This  being  premised,  and  it  being  also  remembered 
that  the  earth  revolves  daily  round  the  sun  from  west 
to  east,  the  cause  of  the  trade-winds  will  be  readily  un- 
derstood. The  rays  of  the  sun,  in  its  apparent  motion 
from  east  to  west,  obviously  rarefy,  by  the  heat  they 
impart,  the  air  beneath,  and  the  air  so  rarefied  rises 
into  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere.  While  this 
takes  place,  the  colder  air  from  the  adjoining  temperate 
zones  rushes  in  to  supply  its  place.     But  it  is  from  the 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       99 

polar  regions,  north  and  south,  that  these  colder  cur- 
rents originally  come;  and  did  the  earth  remain  at 
rest,  such  would  be  their  obvious  direction.  Inste^ii 
of  this,  however,  north  of  the  equator  the  direction  of 
the  trade-winds  is  from  the  northeast;  south  of  the 
equator,  from  the  southeast;  the  cause  of  which  is 
thus  explained.  The  velocity  with  which  the  earth 
revolves  is  inconsiderable,  if  at  all  appreciable,  at 
the  poles,  but  increases  as  we  advance,  and  is  at  its 
maximum  at  the  equator;  the  winds,  in  sweeping  from 
the  poles,  do  not  acquire  a  corresponding  velocity 
with  the  motion  of  the  earth  as  they  advance  towards 
the  equator ;  therefore,  moving  more  slowly  than  the 
earth,  they  are  left  behind,  striking  bodies  with  the  ex- 
cess of  the  earth's  velocity  ;  so  that,  to  the  observer 
who  imagines  himself  at  rest,  the  air  appears  to  move 
in  a  direction  contraiy  to  the  rotation  of  the  earth, 
namely,  from  east  to  west.  While  the  trade-wind  thus 
blows  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  an  opposite  current,  probably  that  of  the  rarefied 
air  which  has  ascended,  flows  in  the  contrary  direction 
at  a  great  elevation  in  the  atmosphere. 

The  external  limits  of  the  trade-winds  are  30^  north 
and  30°  south  of  the  equator;  but  each  limit  diminish- 
es as  the  sun  advances  to  the  opposite  tropic.  The 
larger  the  expanse  of  ocean  over  which  they  sweep, 
the  more  steadily  do  they  blow  ;  accordingly,  they  are 
more  steady  in  the  Pacific  than  in  the  Atlantic,  and 
in  the  South  than  in  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean.  With- 
in the  region  of  the  constant  trade-winds,  rain  seldom 
occurs,  but  it  falls  abundantly  in  the  adjoining  lati- 
tudes.   The  reason  is,  that  rain  is  produced  by  the  sud- 


100     GEOGRArHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH. 

den  mixture  of  air  of  different  temperatures  charged 
with  moisture ;  but  the  constant  circulation  and  inter- 
mixture of  the  air  from  the  upper  strata  of  the  atmos- 
phere, or  ground  current,  maintains  so  equal  a  tem- 
perature in  these  latitudes  as  not  to  occasion  the  con- 
densation of  vapor  which  is  necessary  for  the  produc- 
tion of  rain.  Besides  which,  it  is  plausibly  enough 
alleged  by  Daniel,  that  the  aqueous  vapor  constantly 
flows  off  in  the  current  of  the  equatorial  wind  into  the 
adjoining  temperate  zones.  Within  the  limits  of  the 
trade-winds,  contrary  to  what  might  have  been  antici- 
pated from  the  latitude,  the  atmosphere  is  peculiarly 
cool  and  refreshing. 

Sea  and  Land  Breezes.  —  In  most  countries  near 
the  shores  of  the  sea,  but  particularly  in  tropical  cli- 
mates, there  are  periodical  winds  called  sea  and  land 
breezes  ;  they  occur  in  the  following  manner.  Dur- 
ing the  day,  the  wind  blows  for  a  certain  number  of 
hours  from  the  sea  to  the  land  ;  but  when  the  evening 
arrives,  it  changes  hs  direction,  and  blows  as  many 
hours  from  the  land  to  the  sea.  In  some  countries 
the  sea-breeze  sets  in  about  seven  or  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  is  strongest  at  noon,  but  continues  very  sensi- 
ble until  three  o'clock,  when  the  surface  of  the  sea 
will  be  observed  to  exhibit  ripples  of  a  deep  blue 
color.  After  this,  at  six  in  the  evening,  the  land 
breeze  commences.  The  sea  now  assumes  a  greenish 
hue ;  and  this  breeze  continues  until  eight  the  next 
morning.  The  cause  of  this  alternation  may  be  readily 
ex[)lained.  During  the  day,  the  air  over  the  surface 
of  the  earth  is  more  heated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  than 
that  over  the  surface  of  the  sea;  because  the  earth, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      101 

from  its  greater  density,  comparative  state  of  rest,  and 
numerous  elevations,  reflects  the  sun's  rays  sooner,  and 
with  more  power,  than  they  are  reflected  from  the 
sea,  \\hich,  from  its  state  of  constant  motion  and  trans- 
parency, imbibes  the  warmth  very  intimately,  though 
more  slowly. 

Accordingly,  wlien  the  sun,  having  risen  above  the 
horizon,  has,  by  the  reflection  of  its  rays,  thus  impart- 
ed a  sufficient  degree  of  warmth  to  rarefy  the  body  of 
air  over  the  land,  the  air  so  rarefied  ascends  into  the 
higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  while  that  over  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  being  scarcely  at  all  rarefied,  rushes 
in  to  supply  its  place.  Hence,  a  sea-breeze,  or  cur- 
rent of  air  from  the  sea  to  the  land,  at  this  time  pre- 
vails ;  but  when  the  sun  again  begins  to  sink  below  the 
horizon,  the  body  of  air  over  the  surface  of  the  land 
becomes  rapidly  cold,  and  the  earth  itself,  by  radiation, 
parts  very  quickly  with  the  warmth  it  had  absorbed. 
Then  the  land  air,  being  below  the  temperature  of  the 
sea  air,  rushes  in  to  supply  its  place,  and  thus  during 
the  night,  a  land-breeze,  or  a  current  of  air  from  the 
land  to  the  sea,  is  produced.  When  the  sea-breeze 
first  sets  in,  it  commences  very  near  the  shore,  and 
gradually  extends  itself  farther  out  at  sea,  and,  as  the 
day  advances,  becomes  more  or  less  hot.  Hence,  the 
sails  of  ships  have  been  obsei-ved  quite  becalmed  six 
or  eight  miles  out  at  sea,  while  at  the  same  time  a 
fresh  sea-breeze  has  been  blowing  upon  the  shore. 

The   cause  of  this   is  obvious ;  for  it  is  natural   to 

suppose  that  the  mass  of  air  nearest  the  land  will  be 

the  first  to  rush  in,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the 

place  of  the  air  which  is  rarefied  immediately  above  it. 

9* 


102  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

On  this  account,  the  cfTect  of  the  sea-breeze  is  said 
not  to  be  perceptible  at  a  distance  of  more  tlian  five  or 
six  leagues  from  the  shore,  and  for  the  most  part  be- 
comes fainter  in  proportion  to  its  distance  from  land. 
The  distance,  on  tlie  other  hand,  to  which  the  land- 
breeze  extends  in  blowing  across  the  sea  depends  on 
the  more  or  less  exposed  aspect  of  the  coast  from 
which  it  proceeds.  In  some  places  this  breeze  was 
found  by  Dampier  brisk  three  or  four  leagues  off  shore  ; 
in  other  places  not  so  many  miles;  in  others,  again,  it 
scarcely  extended  without  the  rocks.  The  sea-breeze, 
from  blowing  over  a  more  open  tract,  is  always  strong- 
er than  the  land-breeze ;  but  it  is  observed  that  the 
land-breeze  is  much  colder  than  the  sea-breeze.  Fur- 
thermore, it  has  been  noticed  that  the  tendency  of  the 
land-breeze  at  night  has  almost  invariably  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  sea-breeze  of  the  preceding  or  fol- 
lowing day.  "  Should  the  land-wind  from  being  east, 
draw,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  towards  the  north,  it 
would  be  looked  upon,"  says  jMarsdcn,  in  his  "  History 
of  Sumatra,"  "  as  an  infallible  prognostic  of  a  west  and 
northwest  wind  the  next  day ;  and  on  this  principle  it 
is  that  the  natives  foretell  the  direction  of  the  wind, 
by  the  noise  of  the  surf  at  night,  which,  if  heard  from 
the  northward,  is  esteemed  the  forerunner  of  a  norther- 
ly wind,  and  vice  versa. 

"  The  quarter  from  which  the  noise  is  heard  depends 
on  the  course  of  the  land-wind,  which  brings  the 
sound  with  it,  and  drowns  it  to  leeward ;  the  land-wind 
has  a  correspondence  with  the  next  day's  sea-wind, 
and  thus  the  divination  is  accounted  for."  Unless  for 
the  periodical  refreshing,  cool  breezes  from  the  sea, 


GEOGKAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAETII.  103 

the  West  India  Islands,  and  generally  all  hot  countries, 
would  scarcely  be  habitable  for  the  white  races  of  men. 

Hurricanes. — The  most  dangerous  winds  to  the 
navigator  are  those  which  occur  in  sudden  gusts,  or 
squalls,  and  for  the  approach  of  which  the  sharpest 
outlook  is  required.  When  the  squall  ia  in  the  form 
of  a  violent  tempest,  accompanied  by  rain,  lightning, 
and  thunder,  it  receives  the  name  of  a  hurricane. 
Hurricanes  occur  most  frequently  and  with  the  greatest 
violence  in  tropical  climates,  because,  in  consequence 
of  the  very  great  heat  which  there  prevails,  the  rare- 
faction of  the  air,  and  also  the  condensation  of  the  va- 
por it  contains  into  rain-drops,  takes  place  more  sud- 
denly and  completely  than  in  more  temperate  regions. 
By  this  means  the  electricity  of  the  atmosphere,  — 
that  subtle  fluid  which  seems  to  pervade  all  bodies, 
and  which  universally  seeks  its  own  equilibrium,  —  is 
disturbed,  and  no  longer  maintains  an  equal  distribution 
through  the  aerial  vapor.  It  accumulates  in  vast  quan- 
tities in  one  mass  of  vapor  or  cloud,  while  in  another 
it  is  deficient ;  and,  consequently,  to  regain  its  equi- 
librirjn,  it  flashes  in  the  form  of  lightning  from  the  sur- 
charged cloud  to  the  cloud  that  is  undercharged,  or  to 
the  earth  itself.  Hence,  hurricanes  are  always  attend- 
ed with  electrical  manifestations,  which  add  greatly 
to  the  tragical  horrors  of  the  spectacle  they  exhibit. 

In  describing  the  tremendous  hurricane  which  took 
place  in  the  West  Indies  in  1772,  a  writer  observes  ;  — 
"  I  must  still  mention  how  dreadful  every  thing  looked 
in  this  horrible  and  dai'k  night,  there  being  so  many 
fiery  meteors  in  the  air,  which  I  and  others  who  were 
in  the   same  situation   were  spectators  of.     Towards 


104  GEOGUAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

the  east,  the  face  of  the  heavens  presented  to  oin  view 
a  number  of  fiery  rods,  —  electrical  brushes,  —  which 
were  through  the  whole  night  shooting  and  darting  in 
all  directions ;  likewise  fiery  balls,  which  flew  up  and 
down,  here  and  there,  and  burst  into  a  number  of  small 
pieces,  which,  like  torches  of  flaming  straw,  came 
very  near  the  road  where  we  lay ;  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing all  these  phenomena,  thunder  and  lightning  were 
abundantly  great." 

Hurricanes  commence  in  various  ways :  sometimes 
from  a  single  and  small  cloud,  which  suddenly  ex- 
pands, overspreading,  as  with  a  dense  shroud,  the 
whole  heavens ;  and  sometimes  from  a  slowly  gather- 
ing mass  of  clouds  which  appear  to  be  irradiated  with 
electric  fire.  When  the  enterprising  navigator,  Colum- 
bus, was  about  to  depart  from  Isabella  Island,  while 
his  vessels  were  still  in  the  harbour,  one  of  these  dread- 
ful hurricanes  arose.  "  About  mid-day,"  says  Wash- 
ington Irving,  "  a  furious  wind  sprang  up  from  the  east, 
driving  before  it  dense  volumes  of  cloud  and  vapor. 
Encountering  another  tempest  from  the  west,  it  ap- 
peared as  if  a  violent  conflict  ensued.  The  clouds 
were  rent  by  incessant  flashes,  or  rather  streams,  of 
lightning.  At  one  time  they  were  piled  up  high  in  the 
sky,  at  another  they  descended  to.  the  earth,  filling_the 
air  with  a  baleful  darkness  more  im{)enetrable  than 
the  obscurity  of  midnight.  Wherever  the  hurricane 
passed,  whole  tracts  of  forests  were  shivered  and 
stripped  of  their  leaves  and  branches,  and  those  of 
gigantic  size,  which  resisted  the  blast,  were  torn  up 
by  the  roots,  and  hurled  to  a  great  distance.  Groves 
were   torn   from   the   mountain   precipices,   and   vast 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      105 

masses  of  earth  and  rock  precipitated  into  the  valleys 
with  terrific  noise,  choking  the  course  of  the  rivers. 
The  fearful  sounds  in  the  air  and  on  the  earth,  —  the 
pealing  thunder,  —  the  vivid  lightning,  —  the  howling 
of  the  wind,  —  the  crash  of  falling  trees  and  rocks, — 
filled  every  one  with  affright,  and  many  thought  that 
the  end  of  the  world  was  at  hand.  Some  fled  to  cav- 
erns for  safety,  for  their  frail  houses  were  blown  down, 
and  the  air  was  filled  with  the  trunks  and  branches  of 
trees,  and  even  with  fragments  of  rocks,  carried  along  by 
the  fury  of  the  tempest.  When  the  hurricane  reached 
the  harbour,  it  whirled  the  ships  round  as  they  lay  at 
anchor,  snapped  their  cables,  and  sunk  three  of  them  to 
the  bottom,  with  all  who  were  on  board.  Others  were 
driven  about,  dashed  against  each  other,  and  tossed, 
mere  wrecks,  upon  the  shore  by  the  swelling  surges  of 
the  sea,  which  in  some  places  rolled  for  three  or  four 
miles  upon  the  land.  Tlic  tempest  lasted  for  three 
hours.  When  it  had  passed  away,  and  the  sun  again 
appeared,  the  Indians  regarded  each  other  with  mute 
dismay.  Never,  in  their  memory,  nor  in  their  tra- 
ditions, had  their  island  been  visited  by  such  a  tremeh- 
dous  storm.  They  believed  that  the  Deity  had  sent 
this  fearful  ruin  to  punish  the  cruelties  and  crimes  of 
the  white  men,  and  declared  that  this  people  had 
moved  the  very  air,  the  water,  and  the  earth,  to  disturb 
their  tranquil  life,  and  to  desolate  their  island." 

The  West  Indies,  the  Isle  of  France,  and  the  em- 
pires of  Siam  and  China,  are  the  countries  which  are 
most  subjected  to  the  ravages  of  hurricanes.  In  the 
West  Indies  they  most  frequently  occur  in  the  month 
of  August,  and  the  Indians,  from  their  experience,  origi- 


106      GEOGRArHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

nally  taught  our  planters  the  signs  by  which  their 
approach  may  be  prognosticated.  The  hurricane  oc- 
curs either  in  the  first  quarter  or  at  the  full  change  of 
the  moon.  If  it  come  on  at  the  full,  then  at  the  pre- 
ceding change  the  sky  looks  troubled,  and  the  sun 
more  red  than  usual ;  besides  which,  there  is  a  dead 
calm  below,  and  the  mountain  tops  are  free  from  those 
mists  which  usually  overhang  them.  In  the  caverns  of 
the  earth,  and  in  wells,  a  hollow,  rumbling  noise,  like  a 
rushing  wind,  is  heard,  and  animals  are  observed  to 
tremble  and  be  much  disturbed.  Many  animals,  indeed,, 
appear  to  be  very  sensible  of  any  change  in  the  electri- 
cal state  of  the  atmosphere,  and  indicate  their  uneasi- 
ness by  moaning  and  great  restlessness.  At  night  the 
stars  seem  larger  than  usual,  and  are  frequently  sur- 
rounded with  halos.  It  is  said,  also,  that  the  sea 
emits  a  strong  smell,  and  rises  into  vast  waves,  without 
any  wind  being  perceived.  W'hen  the  wind  rises,  it 
shifts  from  its  common  easterly  direction  to  the  west, 
whence,  with  occasional  intermissions,  it  blows  irregu- 
larly and  violently.  The  moon,  likewise,  is  frequently 
surrounded  by  a  halo,  and  many  luminous  meteors  ap- 
pear in  the  heavens.  Notwithstanding  that  by  observa- 
tion v/e  may  thus  predicate  the  approach  of  hurricanes, 
it  does  not  appear  that  we  are  at  present  able  to  avert 
them  by  any  contrivance  of  art.  The  careful  and  skil- 
ful mariner,  as  his  only  safeguard,  trusts  to  the  trim- 
ming of  his  vessel  to  meet  the  expected  tempest. 

Calms  and  Breezes.  —  "  After  a  storm  comes  a 
calm,"  is  an  old  proverb.  The  fury  of  the  tempest  ex- 
pends itself,  and  in  all  likelihood  there  shortly  after  en- 
sues a  state  of  tranquillity,  though  several  days  may 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH.      107 

elapse  before  the  "  swell,"  or  heaving  agitation  of  the 
sea,  subsides.  When  both  tlie  atmosphere  and  the 
waters  are  tranquil,  the  surface  of  the  ocean  is  beauti- 
fully calm,  and  almost  as  smooth  as  the  glassy  surface 
of  a  lake.  But  a  perfect  or  dead  calm,  if  of  any  con- 
tinuance, is  almost  as  disagreeable  to  ih'i  navigator  as  a 
driving  tempest.  The  ship  makes  no  progress  in  its 
course  ;  its  sails  are  useless ;  and  there  are  no  means  of 
removing  fi'om  the  dull  and  distressing  scene.  This 
condition  of  things  is  well  described  by  the  poet. 

"  Down  dropped  the  breeze,  the  sails  dropped  down, 
'T  was  sad  as  sad  could  be, 
And  wc  did  speak  only  to  break 
The  silence  of  the  sea! 

"  All  in  a  hot  and  copper  sky, 
Tlie  bloody  sun  at  noon, 
Right  up  above  the  mast  did  stand 
No  bigger  than  the  moon. 

"  Day  after  day,  day  after  day, 

We  stuck,  nor  brcatli  nor  motion ; 
As  idle  as  a  paint<'d  sliip 
Upon  a  painted  ocean. 

"  Water,  water  everywhere, 

And  all  the  boards  did  shrink  ; 
Water,  water  everywlicrc, 
But  not  a  drop  to  drink." 

Fortunately,  dead  calms  are  not  generally  of  that 
continuance  which  leads  to  any  serious  result.  A  gen- 
tle breeze  begins  to  steal  upon  the  face  of  the  deep, 
and  the  hitherto  unruffled  surface  of  the  waters  shows  a 
slight,  tremulous  ruffling,  technically  called  the  crony's 
foot.     Sailors  have  a  superstitious  belief,  that  whistling 


108      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

in  a  calm  will  bring  up  a  breeze,  and  this  they  do  with 
a  drawling  and  beseeching  intonation  on  some  promi- 
nent part  of  the  vessel.  Captain  Hall  gives  a  de- 
scription of  the  rise  of  a  breeze,  in  connection  with 
these  whistling  efforts  of  the  sailors,  on  board  a  ship. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  we  perceived  from 
the  mast-head,  far  astern,  a  dark  line  along  the  horizon, 
which  some  of  our  most  experienced  hands  pronounced 
the  first  trace  of  a  breeze  coming  up.  In  the  course 
of  half  an  hour,  this  line  had  widened  so  much  that  it 
could  easily  be  perceived  from  the  deck.  Upon  seeing 
this,  the  whistlers  redoubled  their  efforts ;  and  whether, 
as  they  pretended,  it  was  owing  to  their  interest  with 
the  clerk  of  the  weather-ofhce,  or  whether  the  wind, 
if  left  alone,  would  have  come  just  as  soon,  I  do  not 
venture  to  pronounce  ;  but  certain  it  is,  that,  long  be- 
fore sunset,  our  hearts  were  rejoiced  by  the  sight  of 
those  numerous  flying  patches  of  wind,  scattered  over 
the  calm  surface  of  the  sea,  and  called  by  seamen  cat.''s- 
paws,  —  I  presume  from  the  stealthy,  timorous  man- 
ner in  which  they  seem  to  touch  the  water,  and  straight- 
way vanish  again.  By  and  by,  the  true  wind,  the 
ripple  from  which  had  marked  the  horizon  astern  of  us, 
and  broken  the  face  of  the  mirror  shining  brightly  every- 
where else,  indicated  its  approach,  by  fanning  out  the 
sky-sails  and  other  flying  kites,  generally  supposed  to 
be  superfluous,  but  which  upon  such  occasions  as  this 
■  do  good  sendee,  by  catching  the  first  breath  of  air,  that 
seems  always  to  float  above  the  water.  One  by  one  the 
sails  were  filled  ;  and,  as  the  ship  gathered  way,  every 
person  marked  the  glistening  eye  of  the  helmsman, 
when  he  felt  the  spokes  of  the  wheel  pressing  against 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       lOS 

his  hand,  by  the  action  of  the  water  upon  the  rud- 
der." 

The  Polar  Seas.  —  The  seas  within  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  circles  exhibit  appearances  so  very  remark- 
able, in  consequence  of  the  intense  cold  which  there 
prevails,  that  they  deserve  a  particulai  description. 
The  following  vivid  sketch  of  scenes  observed  within 
the  Arctic  seas  will  be  read  with  interest :  — 

"After  the  continued  action  of  the  sun  has  at  last 
melted  away  the  great  body  of  ice,  a  short  and  dubious 
interval  of  warmth  occurs.  In  the  space  of  a  few  weeks, 
only  visited  by  slanting  and  enfeebled  rays,  frost  again 
resumes  his  tremendous  sway.  It  begins  to  snow  in 
August,  and  the  snow  falls  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three 
feet  before  October.  Along  the  shores  and  bays,  the 
fresh  water,  poured  from  rivulets  or  drained  from  the 
thawing  of  former  collections  of  snow,  becomes  quickly 
converted  into  solid  ice.  As  the  cold  augments,  the  air 
deposits  its  moisture,  in  the  form  of  a  fog,  which  freezes 
mto  a  fine,  gossamer  netting,  or  slender  icicles,  dis- 
persed through  the  atmosphere,  and  so  extremely 
minute,  that  they  seem  to  pierce  and  excoriate  the  skin. 
The  hoar-frost  settles  profusely,  in  fantastic  clusters, 
on  every  prominence.  The  whole  surface  of  the  sea 
steams  like  a  lime-kiln,  —  an  appearance  called  \he  frost- 
smoke,  caused,  as  in  other  instances  of  the  production  of 
vapors,  by  the  waters  being  still  relatively  warmer  than 
the  incumbent  air. 

At  length  the  dispersion  of  the  mist,  and  the  conse- 
quent clearness  of  the  atmosphere,  announce  that  the 
upper  stratum  of  the  sea  itself  has  become  cooled  to 
the  same  standard ;  a  sheet  of  ice  spreads  quickly  over 
XX.— 10 


110      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  smooth  expanse,  and  often  gains  the  thickness  of 
an  inch  in  a  single  night.  The  darkness  of  a  prolong- 
ed winter  now  broods  inpenetrably  over  the  frozen  con- 
tinent, unless  the  moon  chance  at  times  to  obtrude  her 
faint  rays,  which  only  discover  the  horrors  and  wide  des- 
olation of  the  scene."  The  wretched  settlers,  covered 
with  a  load  of  bear-skins,  remain  crowded  and  immured 
in  their  huts,  every  chink  of  which  they  carefully  stop 
against  the  piercing  external  cold,  and,  cowering  about 
the  stove  or  the  lamp,  they  seek  to  doze  away  the  tedi- 
ous night.  Their  slender  stock  of  provisions,  though 
kept  in  the  same  apartment,  is  often  frozen  so  hard  as 
to  require  to  be  cut  with  a  hatchet.  The  whole  of  the 
inside  of  their  hut  becomes  lined  with  a  thick  crust  of 
ice ;  and  if  they  happen  for  an  instant  to  open  a  win- 
dow, the  moisture  of  the  confined  air  is  immediately 
precipitated  in  the  form  of  a  sliower  of  snow.  As  the 
frost  continues  to  penetrate  deeper,  the  rocks  are  heard 
at  a  distance  to  split  with  loud  explosions.  The  sleep 
of  death  seems  to  wrap  up  the  scene  in  utter  and  obliv- 
ious ruin. 

At  length  the  sun  reappears  above  the  horizon  ;  but 
his  languid  beams  rather  betray  the  wide  waste  than 
brighten  the  prospect.  By  degrees,  however,  the  fur- 
ther progress  of  the  frost  is  checked.  In  the  month  of 
May,  the  famished  inmates  venture  to  leave  their  huts, 
in  quest  of  fish  on  the  margin  of  the  sea.  As  the  sun 
acquires  elevation,  his  power  is  greatly  increased. 
The  snow  gradually  wastes  away,  the  ice  dissolves 
apace,  and  vast  fragments  of  it  detached  from  the  cliffs 
and  undermined  beneath,  precipitate  themselves  on  the 
shores  with  the  noise  and  crash  of  thunder.     The  ocean 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      Ill 

is  now  unbound,  and  its  icy  dome  broken  up  with 
tremendous  rupture.  The  enormous  fields  of  ice  thus 
set  afloat  are,  by  the  violence  of  winds  and  currents, 
again  dissevered  and  dispersed.  Sometimes  impelled 
in  opposite  directions,  they  approach,  and  strike  with  a 
mutual  shock,  like  the  crash  of  worlds,  —  sufficient,  if 
opposed,  to  i-educe  to  atoms,  in  a  moment,  the  proudest 
monuments  of  human  power.  It  is  impossible  to  picture 
a  situation  more  awful  than  that  of  the  poor  crew  of  a 
whaler,  who  see  their  frail  bark  thus  fatally  inclosed, 
expecting  immediate  and  total  destruction.  Before  the 
end  of  June,  the  shoals  of  ice  in  the  Arctic  seas  are 
commonly  divided,  scattered,  and  dissipated.  But  the 
atmosphere  is  then  almost  continually  damp,  and  loaded 
with  vapor.  At  this  season  of  the  year,  a  dense  fog 
generally  covers  the  surface  of  the  sea,  of  a  milder 
temperature,  indeed,  than  the  frost-smoke,  yet  produced 
by  the  inversion  of  the  same  cause.  The  lower  stra- 
tum of  air,  as  it  successively  touches  the  colder  body  of 
water,  becomes  chilled,  and  thence  disposed  to  deposit 
its  moisture.  Such  thick  fogs,  with  mere  gleams  of 
clear  weather,  infesting  the  northern  seas  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  summer,  render  their  navigation  ex- 
tremely dangerous.  In  the  course  of  the  month  of 
July,  the  superficial  water  is  at  last  brought  to  an  equi- 
librium of  temperature  with  the  air,  and  the  sun  now 
shines  out  with  a  bright  and  dazzling  radiance. 

There  is  no  region  of  our  globe  more  full  of  appalling 
scenes  and  exciting  dangers.  The  descriptions  given 
by  those  who  have  ventured  among  the  bleak  tempests 
of  these  northern  seas  almost  cause  the  blood  to  chill 
in  our  veuis.     Many  a  ship  has  been  surrounded  by 


112     GEOGBAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

vast  islands  of  ice,  and  the  wretched  seamen  have  there 
found  their  graves.  Who  can  read  without  agitation 
the  following  graphic  sketch  :  — 

"  The  fields  of  ice  are  frequently  of  immense  extent. 
Cook  found  a  chain  of  them  which  joined  Eastern 
Asia  to  North  America.  The  appearance  of  these  con- 
tinents and  islands  of  ice  surpasses  all  that  imagination 
can  conceive.  Here  we  fancy  that  we  behold  moun- 
tains of  pure  crystal,  and  valleys  sown  with  diamonds. 
There  grayish  towers,  with  their  resplendent  points,  seem 
to  rise  above  a  rampart  crowned  with  ice.  The  mag- 
nifying medium  of  a  hazy  atmosphere  renders  this 
spectacle  still  more  gigantic.  He  must  have  a  heart 
of  iron  who  dare  penetrate  into  these  inhospitable 
seas ;  for  if  the  navigator  has  not  to  fear  tempests, 
which  are  extremely  rare  in  these  latitudes,  nor  water- 
spouts and  hurricanes,  which  are  there  unlvnown,  he 
will  be  assailed  by  other  dangers  much  more  capable 
of  appalling  the  most  intrepid  minds.  Sometimes  hugt 
bodies  of  ice,  impelled  along  by  the  winds  and  the  cur- 
rents of  the  sea,  dash  against  the  frail  vessel  ;  and  there 
is  no  rock  so  dangerous  or  so  difficult  to  avoid.  Some- 
times these  floating  mountains  treacherously  surround 
the  navigator,  and  block  up  every  outlet ;  his  ship  is 
arrested  in  her  course,  and  becomes  immovable.  In 
vain  does  the  feeble  axe  endeavour  to  break  these  enor- 
mous masses,  in  vain  do  the  sails  invite  the  winds ; 
the  ship,  as  it  were  soldered  into  the  ice,  and  the  mar- 
mer,  cut  off  from  the  world  of  living  beings,  remain 
fixed  in  a  solitude  of  death.  How  frightful  is  the  situa- 
tion of  those  who,  thus  hemmed  in  by  the  ice,  have  no 
other  resource  left  than  to  quit   their  ves'^^l  and  walk 


GEOGKAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  113 

over  that  consolidated  crust  of  sea,  which  is  eveiy 
moment  cracking  and  ready  to  sink  under  their  feet ! 
When  ahnost  dead  with  cold  and  hunger,  they  consider 
themselves  fortunate  should  the  floating  piece  of  ice  on 
which  they  sail  cast  them  upon  the  shore  of  Siberia 
or  Nova  Zembla.  But  there  is  generally  very  little 
hope  of  life  for  the  wretcned  beings  who  suffer  ship- 
wreck in  these  dreadful  regions.  Either  the  icy  waves 
engulf  them,  or  they  are  devoured  by  the  tyrant  of  this 
dreadful  empire,  the  white  bear ;  or,  lastly,  the  intensi- 
ty of  the  cold  extinguishes  the  vital  heat,  their  feet  ad- 
here to  the  ice,  their  blood  no  longer  circulates  in  their 
veins,  and  the  polar  night  becomes  to  them  a  night 
which  is  eternal." 

A  terrific  account  has  been  given  of  a  ship  once 
found  floating  in  this  ocean  surrounded  with  fields 
and  mountains  of  ice,  and  every  individual  of  the  ship's 
company  frozen.  The  intensity  of  the  cold  had  pre- 
served every  body  from  corruption.  It  seems  that  the 
ship  had  been  caught  in  the  ice,  and  detained  in  defi- 
ance of  eveiy  effort  to  liberate  her.  All  their  fuel  was 
soon  consumed.  Their  fire  expired.  Every  soul  was 
stiffened  in  death.  One  gentleman  was  found  with  his 
pen  in  his  hand  wi'iting  to  his  absent  wife. 

The  oi'igin  of  the  immense  ice  mountains  which 
northern  navigators  so  frequently  meet,  is  difficult  to  be 
ascertained.  The  ice  which  obstructs  the  navigation 
of  the  Arctic  seas  is  of  two  different  kinds.  One  kind 
is  formed  by  the  congelation  of  salt  water.  It  is  fibrous 
and  very  porous,  and  not  at  all  transparent.  Some- 
times, as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  a  compact,  unbroken 
field  extends.  Again,  the  whole  ocean  seems  filled 
8        10* 


114     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

with  floating  fragments,  closely  jammed  together. 
A^^ain,  those  fragments  are  so  separated  that  a  ship  may 
work  its  way  along  between  them.  And  still  again, 
these  fragments,  dashed  together  by  the  winds,  are 
ground  up  to  minuter  fragments,  called  7nash  ice. 

But  the  ice  mountains,  or  icebergs,  as  they  are  usual- 
ly called,  are  evidently  of  different  origin  ;  they  are 
formed  by  the  congelation  of  fresh  water,  and  not  salt. 

From  them,  ships  supply  their  casks  with  the  purest 
and  softest  water.  These  mountains  rise  to  an  im- 
mense height,  sometimes  towering  far  above  the  masts 
of  the  largest  ships.  No  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
these  has  appeared  more  satisfactory  than  the  one  we 
now  quote  from  a  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Review. 

"  In  those  inhospitable  tracts,  the  snow  which  annu- 
ally falls  upon  the  islands  or  continents,  being  again 
dissolved  by  the  progress  of  the  summer's  heat,  pours 
forth  numerous  rills  and  limpid  streams,  which  collect 
along  the  indented  shores,  and  in  the  deep  bays  inclos- 
ed by  precipitous  rocks.  There  this  clear  and  gelid 
water  soon  freezes,  and  every  successive  year  supplies 
an  additional  investing  crust,  till,  after  the  lapse,  per- 
haps, of  several  centuries,  the  icy  mass  rises  at  last  to 
the  size  and  aspect  of  a  mountain,  ccrmmcnsurate  with 
the  elevation  of  the  adjoining  cliffs.  The  melting  of 
the  snow,  which  is  afterwards  deposited  on  such  enor- 
mous blocks,  likewise  contributes  to  their  growth ;  and, 
by  filling  up  accidental  holes  or  crevices,  it  renders  the 
whole  stuicture  compact  and  uniform.  Meanwhile,  the 
Drinciple  ol  destruction  has  already  begun  its  operations. 
The  ceaseless  agitation  of  the  sea  gradually  wears  and 
wideiTTjines  the  base  of  the  icy  mountain,  till  at  length, 


GEOGKAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  115 

by  the  action  of  its  own  accumulated  weight,  when  it 
has  perhaps  attained  the  altitude  of  one  or  two  thousand 
feet,  it  is  torn  from  its  frozen  chains,  and  precipitated 
with  a  tremendous  plunge  into  the  abyss  below.  The 
mighty  launch  now  floats  like  a  lofty  island  on  the 
ocean  ;  till,  driven  southwards  by  the  winds  and  cur- 
rents, it  insensibly  wastes  and  dissolves  away  in  the 
Avidc  Atlantic. 

"  Such  we  conceive  to  be  the  real  origin  of  the  icy 
mountains  or  icebergs,  entirely  similar  in  their  forma- 
tion to  the  glaciers  which  occur  on  the  flanks  of  the 
Alps  and  Pyrenees.  They  consist  of  a  clear,  compact, 
and  solid  ice,  which  has  the  flne  green  tint  verging  to 
blue,  which  ice  or  water,  when  veiy  pure,  and  of 
sufficient  depth,  always  assumes.  From  the  cavities 
of  these  icebergs,  the  crews  of  the  northern  whalers 
are  accustomed,  by  means  of  a  hose  or  flexible  tube  of 
canvass,  to  fill  their  casks  easily  with  the  purest  and 
softest  water.  Of  the  same  species  of  ice,  the  fragments 
wliich  are  picked  up  as  they  float  on  the  surface  of  the 
ocean  yield  the  adventurous  navigator  the  most  refresh- 
in<T  beveratre." 

The  quantity  of  ice  occasionally  met,  even  by  navi- 
gators in  tlie  middle  of  the  temperate  zone,  is  truly 
amazing.  Not  unfrequently  do  the  regular  packets 
from  Liverpool  to  the  United  States  fall  in  with  these 
huge  floating  islands,  and  vessels  in  the  night  have  been 
dashed  to  pieces  by  driving  against  them.  Harbours  in 
the  northern  parts  of  America  are  frequently  filled 
with  ice  driven  from  the  Northern  Ocean,  and  forced  in 
by  the  wind.  The  storms  of  the  Arctic  Sea  pile  cake 
upon  cake,  forcing  the  ice  at  times  to  rise  to  an  enor- 


116      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

rnous  height,  and  decking  the  bleak  scene  with  most 
fantastic  forms  of  beauty,  and  terrific  spectacles  of 
grandeur. 

The  mountains  of  hard  and  perfect  ice,  it  has  been 
shown,  are  the  gradual  production  of  perhaps  many 
centuries.  Along  the  western  coast  of  Greenland,  pro- 
longed into  Davis's  Straits,  they  form  an  immense  ram- 
part, which  presents  to  the  mariner  a  sublime  spectacle, 
resembling  at  a  distance  whole  groups  of  churches, 
beetling  castles,  or  fleets  under  full  sail.  Every  year, 
but  especially  in  hot  seasons,  they  are  partially  detach- 
ed from  their  seats,  and  whelmed  into  the  deep  sea. 
In  Davis's  Straits,  these  icebergs  appear  most  frequent ; 
and  about  Disco  Bay,  where  the  sounding  exceeds 
three  hundred  fathoms,  masses  of  such  enormous  di- 
mensions are  met  with,  that  the  Dutch  seamen  compare 
them  to  cities,  and  often  bestow  on  them  the  familiar 
names  of  Amsterdam  or  Haarlem.  They  are  carried 
towards  the  Atlantic  by  the  current,  which  generally 
flows  from  the  northeast ;  and  after  they  reach  the 
warmer  water  of  the  lower  latitudes,  they  rapidly  dis- 
solve, and  finally  disappear,  probably  in  the  space  of 
a  few  months. 

Waves.  —  The  waves  of  the  ocean  are  various  in 
figure  and  dimensions,  according  to  the  force  and  di- 
rection of  the  winds,  contending  currents,  and  other 
causes.  The  common  cause  of  waves  is  the  fric- 
tion of  the  wind  upon  the  surface  of  the  water.  Little 
ridges  or  elevations  first  appear,  which,  by  continuance 
of  the  force,  gradually  increase,  until  they  become 
the  rolling  mountains  seen  where  the  winds  sweep 
over  a  great  extent  of  water.     In  rounding  the  Cape 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      117 

of  Good  Hope,  waves  are  met  with,  or  rather  swells, 
so  vast,  that  a  few  ridges  and  a  few  depressions  occupy 
the  extent  of  a  mile. 

The  velocity  of  waves  has  relation  to  their  magni- 
tude. The  large  waves  just  spoken  of  proceed  at  the 
rate  of  from  thirty  to  forty  miles  an  hour.  It  is  a  vul- 
gar belief  that  the  water  itself  advances  with  the  speed 
of  the  wave,  but  in  fact  the  form  only  advances, 
while  the  substance,  except  a  little  spray  above,  re- 
mains rising  and  falling  in  the  same  place,  with  the 
regularity  of  a  pendulum.  A  wave  of  water,  in  this 
respect,  is  exactly  imitated  by  the  wave  running  along 
a  stretched  rope  when  one  end  is  shaken ;  or  by  the 
mimic  waves  of  our  theatres,  which  are  generally  un- 
dulations of  long  pieces  of  carpet,  moved  by  attend- 
ants. But  when  a  wave  reaches  a  shallow  bank  or 
beach,  the  water  becomes  really  progressive,  for  then, 
as  it  cannot  sink  directly  downwards,  it  falls  over  and 
forwards,  seeking  the  level. 

So  awful  is  the  spectacle  of  a  storm  at  sea,  that  it  is 
generally  viewed  through  a  medium  which  biases  the 
judgment;  and,  lofty  as  waves  really  are,  imagination 
pictures  them  loftier  still.  A  wave  rarely  rises  more 
than  ten  feet  above  the  oi-dinary  sea-level,  which,  with 
the  ten  feet  that  its  surface  afterwards  descends  below 
this,  gives  twenty  feet  for  the  whole  height,  from  the 
bottom  of  any  water-valley  to  an  adjoining  summit. 

Maritime  Discovery.  —  Navigation  is  the  art  of 
conducting  vessels  at  sea  in  the  direction  in  which 
they  are  designed  to  proceed ;  the  term  is  derived  from 
the  Latin  words  ?iavis,  a  ship,  and  ago,  to  manage  or 
govern.     From  navis  also  is  derived  the  term  navy. 


118      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

which  signifies  a  collection  of  ships.  The  terms  ma- 
rine^ maritime,  and  mariner,  are  likewise  from  a  Latin 
root,  to  wit,  7nare,  the  sea. 

Of  the  early  history  of  ship  architecture  and  naviga- 
tion, little  can  he  said  of  any  importance.  The  buoy- 
ant property  of  water,  particularly  that  of  the  sea, 
must  have  been  soon  observed  by  inankind,  and  there- 
fore, beginning  with  rude  skiffs  and  canoes,  they  would 
in  time  acquire  sufficient  experience  and  skill  to  con- 
struct vessels  of  a  larger  size,  and  to  guide  them  in 
the  required  direction  by  means  of  a  rudder  and  sails. 
The  cultivated  nations  of  antiquity,  Egj'ptians,  Car- 
thaginians, Phoenicians,  and  others,  living  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  possessed  ships  both  for  com- 
merce and  war,  some  of  which  were  of  a  large  size, 
and  moved  by  rowers,  and  winds  acting  on  the  sails. 
But  no  people  of  antiquity  possessed  the  courage  or 
skill  to  navigate  their  vessels  out  of  sight  of  land,  or, 
at  least,  to  push  into  the  open  Atlantic  or  other  great 
oceans. 

I\Iaritimc  intercourse,  for  the  sake  of  traffic,  was 
carried  on  only  along  the  shores  of  the  ]\Icditerranean, 
or  down  the  Red  Sea,  and  along  the  coast  to  India, 
or  along  the  western  shore  of  Europe  to  Britain.  The 
Romans  thought  they  performed  a  wonderfully  bold 
feat  when  they  sailed  a  ship  as  far  as  the  northern 
islands  of  Scotland.  In  tliese  times  there  was  no  other 
known  guide,  with  respect  to  the  cardinal  points,  than 
the  stars  by  night  and  the  sun  by  day  ;  and,  therefore, 
when  clouds  covered  the  visible  horizon,  or  when  total 
darkness  ensued  at  night,  the  ship  was  necessarily 
brought  to  a  pause,  or  placed  in  the  most  imminent 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      119 

danger  of  being  wrecked  on  some  unknown  shore. 
This,  however,  was  not  the  only  difficuhy.  The  na- 
tions of  antiquity,  with  all  their  learning,  were  utterly 
ignorant  of  tlic  form  and  size  of  the  globe.  They  be- 
lieved that  the  world  was  a  great  flat  plain,  with  the 
habitable  earth  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean ;  that 
this  ocean  was  of  interminable  breadth  ;  and  that,  at  a 
certain  distance  from  land,  the  waters  were  shrouded 
in  eternal  darkness.  With  such  notions  prevailing 
among  mankind  for  thousands  of  years,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  they  should  have  made  so  slow  advances 
in  the  art  of  navigation,  or  done  so  little  for  maritime 
discovery. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  from  the  fourth  to  the  four- 
teenth century,  ship-building  was  considerably  im- 
proved by  the  Italians,  who  then  conducted  a  large 
maritime  traffic  on  the  Mediterranean ;  but  the  art  of 
navigation,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  was  still 
in  its  infancy,  and  its  history  cannot  be  said  to  com- 
mence till  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
when  that  wonderful  instrument,  the  mariner's  com- 
pass, was  discovered,  or  came  first  into  observation  in 
Europe.  Of  the  polarity  of  the  magnet,  or  its  tenden- 
cy to  point  to  the  poles,  it  is  here  only  necessary  to 
say  how  this  polarity  is  rendered  subservient  to  the 
purposes  of  the  navigator.  The  mariner's  compass, 
which  consists  of  a  magnetized  slip  of  metal,  or  needle, 
as  it  is  called,  poised  on  its  centre,  and  free  to  point  to 
the  poles,  was  first  made  known,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
ascertained,  by  one  Flavio  Gioja,  an  Italian,  in  the 
year  1302.  As  with  all  great  discoveries,  its  advan- 
tage^ were  not  at  once  recognized.     It  had  to  contend 


120  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTri. 

against  a  variety  of  prejudices ;  but  these  in  time 
vanished,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tuiy  its  important  uses  were  allowed  and  established. 

Navigation  now  assumed  a  much  bolder  character 
than  formerly.  The  English,  Portuguese,  Italians,  and 
Spaniards  pushed  their  vessels  into  districts  of  ocean 
never  previously  traversed,  and  thus  the  way  was 
fairly  opened  for  maritime  discovery.  The  first  great 
discoverer  who  made  use  of  the  compass,  and  partly 
improved  its  construction,  was  Prince  Henry,  a  son  of 
the  king  of  Portugal,  and  who  is  known  in  history  by 
the  name  of  Henry  the  Navigator.  This  intelligent 
and  enterprising  prince  (born  1394,  died  1361),  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  Portuguese  government,  set  on 
foot  a  series  of  maritime  enterprises,  with  the  view  of 
discovering  a  route  to  India  by  way  of  the  Atlantic. 
These  voyages  ultimately  proved  successful ;  the  islands 
of  Puerto  Santo,  Madeira,  and  the  Canaries,  were  suc- 
cessively discovered,  and  annexed  to  the  crown  of 
Portugal. 

In  1433,  the  Portuguese  navigators  penetrated  be- 
yond Cape  Bojador,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  which  was 
considered  an  cxtraordinaiy  performance  ;  another  ex- 
pedition afterwards  went  as  far  as  Cape  Blanco,  and  dis- 
covered the  island  of  Arguin  and  the  Cape  de  Verde 
Isles ;  and,  in  1448,  the  Azores  were  reached  and  made 
known.  Henry  the  Navigator  thus  struck  a  spark 
which  kindled  to  a  flame  all  over  Europe.  Not  long 
after  his  death,  the  Guinea  coast  was  added  to  the 
Portuguese  discoveries.  In  1484,  the  Congo  was 
reached  by  Diego  Cam ;  in  1487,  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  was  doubled  by  Bartholomew  Diaz  ;  and,  in  1498, 
Vn^co  do  Gama  touched  the  shores  of  Hindostan. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH.      12] 

The  Portuguese  having  received  an  assignment  from 
die  Pope  of  all  lands  that  could  be  discovered  on  the 
African  coasts,  the  Spanish  government,  burning  with 
anxiety  to  emulate  the  late  proceedings  of  its  neigh- 
bours, was  compelled  to  seek  out  new  countries  in  a 
dilTerent  direction.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  sover- 
eigns of  Spain,  listened,  therefore,  to  the  speculations 
of  Columbus  regarding  a  route  to  India  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  sent  him  ofT  on  a  mission.  In  his  bold 
attempt  to  reach  Hindostan  by  pursuing  a  direction 
across  the  Atlantic,  he  landed  on  one  of  the  American 
islands,  now  called  the  Bahamas,  on  the  12th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1492.  About  the  year  1499,  Amerigo  Vespuccii, 
under  an  appointment  from  the  Spanish  government, 
discovered  the  coast  of  the  South  American  continent, 
and  hence  the  name  of  America  was  given  to  the  New 
World,  although,  as  is  well  known,  Columbus  had  pre- 
viously discovered  and  landed  on  South  America, 
without  being  aware  that  it  was  the  continent  which 
he  had  reached. 

Several  subsequent  voyages  by  Spanish  navigators 
disclosed  the  extent  of  the  east  coast  of  South  Ameri- 
ca, and,  in  1513,  Nunez  de  Balboa  crossed  the  isthmus 
of  Panama  with  an  exploring  party  of  his  sailors,  and 
made  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west 
coast  of  that  continent.  It  was  now  seen  that  America 
was  not,  as  had  been  at  first  believed,  a  portion  of 
Asia  or  India,  but  was  a  separate  territory  of  vast  ex- 
tent lying  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.  There 
was  yet  a  doubt  with  respect  to  the  southern  extremity 
of  America ;  but  in  1520,  Magellan  made  the  passage 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  by  the  straits  which 


122     GEOGUArHlCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH. 

separate  America  from  the  island  of  Terra  del  Fuego, 
at  about  the  fifty-third  degree  of  south  latitude,  and 
so  removed  all  doubt  upon  the  subject.  This  navigator 
extended  his  voyage  across  the  Pacific  to  the  Philip- 
pine Islands,  where,  unfortunately,  he  was  killed  ;  but 
his  companions  proceeded  in  the  route  homewards  by 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  thus,  by  circumnavigating 
the  globe,  settled  the  long-disputed  problem  with  re- 
spect to  the  sphericity  of  our  planet.  This  most  im- 
portant voyage  was  made  between  the  years  1520  and 
1523. 

In  the  mean  while,  several  maritime  discoveries  were 
made  by  the  English  nation.  In  1495,  John  Cabot,  a 
Venetian  pilot,  settled  at  Bristol,  obtained  from  Henry 
the  Seventh  letters  patent,  empowering  him  and  his 
three  sons,  Lewis,  Sebastian,  and  Sanctius,  to  discover 
unknown  lands,  and  conquer  and  settle  them.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  permission,  the  king  supplied  one 
ship,  and  the  merchants  of  London  and  Bristol  a  few 
smaller  ones,  and  in  1496  John  and  Sebastian  sailed 
to  the  northwest.  In  July  of  the  same  year,  they  dis- 
covered Newfoundland,  and  explored  it  up  to  Lat. 
67°  N.  In  a  subsequent  voyage,  the  father  and  son 
sailed  as  far  as  Cape  Florida,  and  are  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  who  saw  the  main  land  of  America.  By 
these  and  succeeding  voyages  of  discovery  in  the 
reigns  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  Edward  the  Sixth,  and 
Elizabeth,  the  English  became  possesssed  of  the  east- 
ern coast  of  North  America,  and  some  of  its  islands. 
Between  the  years  1740  and  1744,  Anson  was  em- 
ployed in  circumnavigating  the  globe,  and  visiting 
different  parts  of  the  Pacific ;  but  this  extensive  and 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  123 

protracted  voyage  added  little  to  the  existing  knowl- 
edge of  geography.  At.  a  later  period,  in  the  i-eign 
of  George  the  Third,  Cook  explored  the  groups  of 
islands  in  the  Pacific,  making  various  interesting  dis- 
coveries, in  which  was  included  a  survey  of  the  eastern 
coasts  of  Australia  and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and  a  visit 
to  the  New  Zealand  Islands.  After  the  voyages  of  this 
enterprising  navigator,  little  was  left  to  perform  in  the 
way  of  maritime  discovery,  except  in  exploring  the 
northern  extremities  of  the  American  continent.  A 
scries  of  voyages  for  this  purpose  was  begun  in  1818, 
conducted  by  Ross,  Parry,  and  others,  and  which  lately 
terminated  by  establishing  the  fact,  that  a  passage  for 
ships  exists  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  round  the 
northern  promontories  of  America,  but  that,  from  the 
blocking  of  ice,  such  a  passage  can  only  be  open  to 
navigators  on  rare  occasions,  and  is  therefore  of  no 
practical  value. 

Utility  of  the  Ocean.  —  The  utility  of  the  ocean 
in  equalizing  the  temperature  of  the  globe,  in  furnish- 
ing a  highway  for  the  intercourse  of  nations,  in  sup- 
plying an  unfailing  fountain  of  salt  for  the  use  of  man, 
in  providing  an  exhaustlcss  storehouse  of  food,  —  has 
attracted  the  attention  of  every  reflecting  mind.  There 
is  another  source  of  interest  in  this  grand  feature  of 
nature,  -which  is  less  obvious,  but  still  hardly  less  im- 
portant, —  we  mean,  its  moral  and  poetical  associations. 
The  innuencc  of  these  upon  the  mind  is  beautifully  set 
forth  in  the  following  passages.* 

"  The  ocean  is  wonderful  and  divine  in   its  forms 

"From  "Religion  of  the  Sea,"  by  F.  W.  P.  Greenwood. 


124  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

and  changes  and  sounds,  in  its  grandeur,  its  beauty,  its 
variety,  ils  niiiabitants,  its  uses  and  its  mysteries,  in  all 
that  strikes  the  sense  and  is  immediately  apprehended 
by  the  understanding.  But  besides  all  these,  and  lying 
deeper  than  all,  it  possesses  a  moral  interest,  which  is 
partly  bestowed  upon  it,  and  partly  borrowed  from  it, 
by  the  mind  of  man.  The  soul  finds  in  it  a  fund  of 
high  spiritual  associations.  Analogies  are  perceived  in 
it,  which  connect  it  most  afTectingly  with  our  mortal 
life,  with  dread  eternity,  and  with  Almighty  God  him- 
self, the  source  and  end  of  all.  And  thus  it  becomes  a 
principal  link  in  that  great  chain  of  purpose  and  sym- 
pathy, with  which  the  Creator  has  bound  up  all  matter 
and  mind,  together  with  his  own  infinite  being,  in  one 
consenting  whole. 

"  The  sea  has  often  been  likened  to  this  our  life.  Po- 
etry is  fond  of  remarking  resemblances  between  it  and 
tile  passions  and  fortunes  of  humanity.  Our  contem- 
plations launch  forth  on  its  capacious  bosom,  and  gather 
up  the  images  and  shadowings  of  our  existence  and 
fate,  of  what  we  are,  and  what  is  appointed  to  us.  Do 
we  see  its  multitudinous  waves  rushing  blindly  and  im- 
petuously along  wherever  they  are  driven  by  the  lash- 
mg  wind  .'  They  remind  us  of  the  tempest  of  an  an- 
gry mind,  or  the  tumult  of  an  enraged  people.  Are 
the  waves  hushed,  and  is  a  calm  breathed  over  the 
floods  ?  It  is  the  similitude  of  a  peaceful  breast,  of  a 
composed  and  placid  spirit,  or  a  quiet,  untroubled  time. 
Doubts,  anxieties,  and  fears  pass  over  our  minds,  as 
clouds  do  over  the  sea,  tinging  them,  as  the  clouds, 
tinge  the  waters,  with  their  deep  and  threatening  hues. 
Does  a  beaming  hope  or  a  golden  joy  break  in  suddenly 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      125 

upon  US,  in  the  midst  of  care  or  misfortune  ?  What  is 
it  but  a  ray  of  light,  such  as  we  sometimes  behold  sent 
down  from  the  rifted  sky,  shining  alone  in  the  dark  ho- 
rizon, a  sun-burst  on  a  sullen  sea  ? 

"  Thus  discourses  the  ocean  on  the  great  themes  of 
mortality,  —  the  eloquent  ocean,  sounding  forth  inces- 
santly, in  its  deep-toned  surges,  a  true  and  dignified 
philosophy;  repeating  to  every  shore  the  moral  and 
the  mystery  of  human  life. 

"But  it  does  something  more.  It  is  so  vast,  so 
uniform,  so  full,  so  all-enveloping,  that  it  leads  the 
thoughts  to  a  sublimer  theme  than  life  or  time,  to  the 
theme  of  dread  eternity.  When  contemplations  on  this 
subject  are  suggested  by  it,  human  life  shrinks  up  into 
a  stream,  wandering  through  a  varied  land,  now  through 
flowers,  and  now  through  sands,  now  clearly  and  now 
turbidly,  now  smoothly  and  quietly,  and  now  obstructed 
and  chafed,  till  it  is  lost  at  last  in  the  mighty  ocean, 
which  receives,  and  feels  it  not.  There  is  nothing 
among  the  earthly  works  of  God,  which  brings  the 
feeling,  —  for  it  can  hardly  be  termed  a  conception,  — 
the  feeling  of  eternity  so  powerfully  to  the  soul,  as  does 
the  '  wide,  wide  sea.'  We  look  upon  its  waves,  suc- 
ceeding each  other  continually,  one  rising  up  as  another 
vanishes,  and  we  think  of  the  generations  of  men, 
which  lift  up  their  heads  for  a  while  and  then  pass 
away,  one  after  the  other,  for  all  the  noise  and  show 
they  make,  even  as  those  restless  and  momentary 
waves.  Thus  the  waves  and  the  ages  come  and 
go,  appear  and  disappear,  and  the  ocean  and  eterni- 
ty remain  the  same,  undecaying  and  unaffected,  abid- 
11* 


126  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

ing  in  the  unchanging  integrity  of  theii-  solemn  exis- 
tence. 

"  Where  are  the  myriads  of  men  who  have  trodden 
its  shores,  and  gone  down  to  it  in  ships .''  They  are 
passed  away.  Not  a  single  trace  has  been  left  by  all 
their  armaments.  Where  are  the  old  kingdoms  which 
were  once  washed  by  its  waves  ?  They  have  been 
changed,  and  changed  again,  till  a  few  ruins  only  tell 
where  they  stood.  But  the  sea  is  all  the  same.  Man 
can  place  no  monuments  upon  it,  with  all  his  ambition 
and  pride.  It  suffers  not  even  a  ruin  to  speak  of  his 
triumphs  or  his  existence.  It  remains  as  young,  as 
strong,  as  free,  as  when  it  first  listened  to  the  Almighty 
Word,  and  responded  with  all  its  billows  to  the  song 
of  the  morning  stars. 

"'  Time  writes  no  wrinkle  on  thine  azure  brow  ; 
Such  as  creation's  dawn  beheld,  thou  rollest  now.' 

"It  is  this  immutability,  which,  more  than  any  other 
of  the  attributes  of  ocean,  perhaps,  impresses  our  minds 
with  the  sentiment  of  eternity,  and  gives  to  it  its  char- 
acter of  superiority  among  the  works  of  God.  Earth 
never  frees  itself  entirely  from  the  subjection  of  man. 
It  constantly  receives  and  covers  his  fallen  remains,  in- 
deed, but  is  made  to  bear  memorials  of  the  victor,  even 
after  he  is  vanquished.  All  over  the  world  we  see  the 
vestiges  of  former  generations  ;  their  caves,  their  wells, 
their  pyramids,  their  roads,  their  towei-s,  their  graves. 
But  none  of  these  things  are  on  the  sea.  Its  surface  is 
unmarked  but  by  its  own  commotions ;  and  when  it 
buries  man  or  man's  works,  the  sepulture  is  sudden 
and  entire ;  a  plunge,  a  bubble,  and  the  waters  roll  on 


GEOGRAl'lIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  127 

as  before,  cureless  of  the  nioinentary  interruption  of 
their  wonted  flowing.  Thus  immutable,  thus  unworn 
and  unsullied  is  ocean.  To  what  shall  it  be  compared, 
but  to  the  highest  subjects  of  thought,  to  life  and  lo  im- 
mortality ?  It  allies  itself  in  its  greatness  more  with 
spirit  than  with  matter.  It  holds  itself  above  subjection 
or  control.  It  seems  to  have  a  will,  a  liberty,  and  a 
power. 

'•  As  these  are  high  associations,  they  readily  lead  us 
up  to  Him  who  is  above  all  height.  There  is  a  natural 
connection  between  all  sublime  and  pure  sentiment 
and  the  conception  of  Deity.  All  grandeur  directs  us 
to  him,  because  we  have  learnt  that  he  is  greatest. 
We  cannot  stop  in  the  creature  after  we  have  received 
any  true  ideas  of  the  Creator.  And  thus  God  himself 
comes,  as  if  by  an  influence  of  his  sj)irlt,  into  our 
minds,  when  we  are  looking  upon  the  sea,  or  listening 
to  its  roar,  and  imbibing  the  emotions  which  it  is  so 
powerful  to  excite.  Where  he  comes,  he  reigns. 
The  conception  of  God,  when  it  enters,  takes  the  throne 
of  authority  among  the  other  thoughts,  and  brings  them 
into  easy  subordination.  And  then  wc  think  how  in- 
ferior and  dependent  are  all  might  and  majesty,  com- 
pared with  his.  The  eternity  of  ocean  becomes  a 
brief  type  of  the  eternity  of  him  who  made  it,  and  all 
its  grandeur  as  a  passing  shadow  of  his.  It  does  not, 
however,  lose  any  of  its  interest,  by  this  kind  of  inferi- 
ority. Nothing  is  lessened  to  the  pious  mind  by  being 
esteemed  less  than  the  Supreme.  It  retains  its  con- 
nection with  eternity  and  God,  and  is  dxalted  by  its 
glorious  dependence.  It  puts  on  the  aspect,  and  speaks 
with  the  added  solemnity  of  religion ;  telling  us  that 


128      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

all  its  power  and  magnificence  are  from  the  Maker 
and  that  if  it  is  full  of  beauty,  and  life,  and  usefulness, 
and  mystery,  it  is  because  the  Maker  is  good,  and 
wise,  and  infinite. 

"  The  sea  has  been  called  the  religious  sea.  It  is  re- 
ligious, as  it  suggests  religious  thoughts  and  emotions. 
AM  as  the  feelings  excited  by  a  noble  object  in  a 
contemplative  soul  are  always  in  some  degree  re- 
flected back  upon  that  object,  the  sea  will  appear  to  be 
m  its  own  self  religious  ;  to  know  that  it  is  lying  in 
the  hollow  of  the  Almighty's  hand  ;  to  chant  loud  an- 
thems to  his  praise  in  the  noise  of  its  rushing  floods, 
and  to  send  up  its  more  quiet  devotions  in  the  breath- 
ing stillness  of  its  calms.  In  short,  we  know  nothing 
of  the  sea  as  we  ought  to  know,  we  feel  nothing  of  its 
best  and  sublimest  inspirations,  unless  we  receive  from 
it,  and  communicate  to  it,  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  religion  ;  unless  we  grow  devout  as  we  gaze,  and 
return  from  contemplating  it  with  the  consciousness 
that  we  have  entered  into  a  nearer  union  with  God." 


CLIMATOLOGY. 


The  climate  of  a  country  comprises  whatever  re- 
lates to  the  degree  of  heat  and  cold  to  which  it  is 
subject,  the  dryness  and  moisture  of  the  air,  its  health- 
fulness  or  insalubrity.  The  causes  which  affect  and 
determine  the  climate  of  a  place  are  nine;  1.  the  ac- 
tion of  the  sun  upon  the  atmosphere ;  2.  the  internal 
heat  of  the  globe  ;  3.  the  height  of  the  place  above  the 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      129 

level  of  the  sea;  4.  the  general  exposure  of  tlic  re- 
gion ;  5.  the  position  of  its  mountains  relatively  to  the 
cardinal  points;  6.  the  neighbourhood  of  the  sea  and 
its  relative  position ;  7.  the  geological  character  of  the 
soil ;  8.  the  degree  of  cultivation  which  it  has  received, 
and  the  density  of  the  population  collected  upon  it ; 
and  9.  the  prevalent  winds.  These  causes,  acting  to- 
gether or  separately,  determine  the  character  of  a  cli- 
mate as  moist  and  warm,  dry  and  warm,  mild  and 
moist,  mild  and  dry,  cold  and  moist,  cold  and  dry,  &c. 

The  torrid  zone  has  but  two  seasons ;  the  wet  and 
the  dry.  The  latter  is  considered  as  the  summer, 
and  the  former  as  the  winter  of  the  regions  within  this 
zone,  but  they  are  in  direct  opposition  to  the  astronomi- 
cal seasons,  as  the  rains  follow  the  sun.  In  some  dis- 
tricts there  are  two  rainy  and  two  dry  seasons  every 
year.  The  temperature  is  uniform  to  the  distance  of 
ten  or  fifteen  degrees  from  the  equator,  but  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  tropics  thei'e  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  the  temperature  when  the  sun  is  in  the 
zenith,  and  when  he  is  in  the  opposite  solstice  of  any 
place.  The  climate  of  the  equatorial  zone  is  more 
temperate  than  that  of  the  tropical  regions,  in  which 
extreme  heats  prevail  during  the  presence  of  the  sun. 

In  the  temperate  zones  only  is  the  year  divided  into 
the  four  seasons,  exhibiting  the  grateful  vicissitude  of 
heat  and  cold,  the  varied  charms  of  spring  and  autumn, 
the  tempered  fires  of  summer,  and  the  healthful  rigors 
of  winter.  This  regular  succession  of  the  annual 
changes  can,  however,  hardly  be  considered  to  extend 
further  than  from  35°  to  60°  of  latitude. 

In  the  frigid  zones  two  seasons  only  are  known ;  a 


\ 


130  'tVjGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH. 

long  one'  severe  winter  is  abruptly  followed  by  the  in- 
supportable heats  of  a  short  but  burning  summer ;  this 
harsh  transition  and  strong  contrast  is  occasioned  by 
the  great  length  of  the  summer  days,  and  the  total  ab- 
sence of  the  sun  in  winter. 

There  is  a  remarkable  difference  in  climate  between 
the  eastern  and  western  shores  of  the  two  continents, 
the  latter  being  considerably  milder.  Thus  along  the 
shores  of  Europe  the  climate  is  from  eight  to  ten  de- 
grees warmer,  especially  in  winter,  than  on  the  opposite 
American  coast  in  the  same  latitudes.  Paris,  which 
is  about  eight  degrees  north  of  New  York,  has  a  mild- 
er winter  climate  than  the  latter  city.  The  western 
coast  of  the  American  continent,  toward  the  north, 
has  also  a  milder  climate  than  the  opposite  shores  of 
Asia,  in  the  same  parallels. 

The  extremes  of  temperature  are  experienced  chiefly 
in  large,  inland  tracts,  and  are  little  felt  in  small  islands 
remote  from  continents.  In  the  United  States,  intense 
cold  is  felt  when  the  wind  blows  from  the  frozen  re- 
gions round  Hudson's  Bay.  From  snow-clad  mountains 
gusts  of  cold  wind,  called  snoic  winds,  rush  down  and 
cool  the  adjacent  plains.  The  heat  accumulates  to 
an  astonishmg  degree  when  the  wind  passes  over  ex- 
tensive deserts  of  burning  sand,  which  are  said  in 
some  instances,  in  Africa,  to  be  heated  to  the  boiling 
point.  This  fine  sand,  or  rather  dust,  sometimes  rises 
in  the  air  and  obscures  it  like  a  fog,  communicating  to 
it  an  intolerable  heat.  In  Arctic  countries  the  temper- 
ature is  very  much  regulated  by  the  freezing  of  the 
water  and  the  melting  of  the  ice ;  by  the  freezing  of 
the  water  great  quantities  of  heat  are  given  out,  which 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      131 

moderate  the  severity  of  tlie  winter's  cold,  and  thus 
save  from  destruction  tlie  Arctic  land  animals  and 
plants  ;  while  in  summer,  the  intensity  of  the  heat,  pro- 
duced by  the  long  continuance  of  the  sun  above  the 
horizon,  is  moderated  by  the  abstraction  of  a  consider- 
able portion  of  that  heat  by  the  water  during  the  melt- 
ing of  the  ice.  Had  the  Arctic  regions  beeu  entirely 
of  land,  neither  plants  nor  animals  could  have  existed 
in  them  :  for  dui'ing  summer,  owing  to  the  sun  remain- 
ing above  the  horizon  for  months,  an  elevation  of  at- 
mospheric temperature  would  have  been  produced  fatal 
to  animals  and  plants ;  and  in  winter,  the  long  dark- 
ness and  intense  cold  would  have  proved  equally  fatal 
to  animated  beings.  The  cold  of  the  icy  regions  of  the 
north  has  been  alleged  to  reach  southern  latitudes,  by 
currents  of  air,  and  thus  to  lower  their  temperature. 


METEOROLOGY.* 


The  Atmosphere.  —  The  air  in  which  we  breathe, 
with  the  clouds  and  vapors  floating  in  it,  surrounds 
the  earth  on  all  sides  to  an  unknown  height,  and 
forms  a  movable  envelope  denominated  the  atmos- 
plicre.  The  human  species  and  other  land  animals, 
being  thus  entirely  immei'sed  in  this  fluid,  may  with 
some  propriety  be  said  to  inhabit  an  ocean  as  really  as 
the  fishes  which  live  in  the  great  deep.  But  the  latter 
have  the  advantage  in  being  able  to  mount  up,  remain, 

*  For  a  fuller  view  of  Meteorology,  sec   "  Gluncc  at  the  Sci 
cnces." 


132  geo(;kapi!!cal  view  of  the  earth. 

or  descend,  at  pleasure,  in  their  element ;  whereas 
without  some  additional  aid,  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  the  more  humble  allotment  of  remaining  on  the 
bottom  of  our  ocean.  The  winged  tribes,  doubtless, 
have  the  power  of  ascending  to  great  heights ;  still 
they  can  never  reach  the  summit. 

There  is  nothing  more  essential  to  the  existence  or 
health  of  man  himself,  or  of  the  inferior  animals  and 
vegetables  which  live  on  our  globe,  than  the  atmos- 
phere ;  nor  has  any  agent  a  greater  share  in  the  innu- 
merable changes  which  are  daily  taking  place  in  the 
inanimate  materials  composing  our  planet.  That  it  is 
a  body  or  substance  possessing  the  essential  properties 
of  rrratter  appears  from  the  resistance  which  it  offers 
to  the  occupation  of  its  place  by  other  bodies.  Thus, 
if  an  apparently  empty  glass  jar  be  inverted,  and  then 
immersed  in  a  vessel  of  water,  that  liquid  will  only  en- 
ter a  veiy  little  way  into  the  jar,  the  rest  being  occu- 
pied by  the  air.  This  familiar  experiment  shows  that 
air  is  a  body,  by  its  resisting  the  entry  of  the  water. 
At  the  same  time,  it  shows  the  air  to  be  an  elastic  or 
compressible  substance,  otherwise  it  would  have  com- 
pletely excluded  the  water.  That  it  is  a  fluid  is  evi- 
dent from  the  ease  with  which  bodies  move  in  it,  from 
Its  pressing  equally  in  every  direction,  and  passing  with 
great  facility  through  minute  openings. 

In  respect  to  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere, 
vague  and  fanciful  notions  prevailed  for  many  ages. 
The  ancients  considered  it  as  one  of  the  four  simple 
elements  of  which  they  supposed  all  other  bodies  to  be 
compounded.  These  were  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water- 
How  far  the  opinion  was  correct  which  made  fire  an 


GEOGRArHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      133 

element  is  a  question  on  which  nothing  is  yet  known ; 
but  the  researches  of  modern  chemistry  have  shown 
that  the  other  three  arc  ail  compr'jnd  bodies.  The 
chief,  and  perhaps  the  only  essential  component  sub- 
stances in  the  atmosphere,  are  the  two  gases  called 
oxygen  and  azote  ;  its  other  ingredients,  occurring  onh 
in  small  and  variable  quantities,  are  rather  to  be  con- 
sidered as  foreign  bodies. 

Dew.  —  This  is  a  remarkable  product  of  atmospheric 
moisture.  The  quantity  of  aqueous  vapor  which  can 
exist  in  a  given  space,  as  a  cubic  foot,  is  generally  be- 
lieved to  be  the  same,  whether  there  be  air  present  in 
the  space,  or  nothing  but  the  vapor  alone.  The  quan- 
tity is  always  the  same  at  the  same  temperature,  but  it 
is  greater  as  the  temperature  is  higher ;  and,  therefore, 
supposing  the  space  to  be  saturated  with  vapor  at  a 
particular  temperature,  a  portion  of  this  will  return  into 
drops  of  water  whenever  the  temperature  falls.  It 
is  on  this  principle  that  a  cold  body,  such  as  a  bottle 
of  liquor,  being  carried  into  a  warm,  moist  apartment, 
becomes  bedewed  on  the  outside,  till,  perhaps,  the  wa- 
ter trickles  down  its  sides ;  the  contact  of  the  cold  sur- 
face chills  the  air,  which  in  return  deposits  a  portion  of 
its  moisture.  Now  this  is  similar  to  the  mode  in  which 
moisture  is  insensibly  deposited  from  the  atmosphere 
on  bodies  at  the  earth's  surface,  and  which  is  known 
by  the  name  of  dew^  All  bodies  placed  in  still  air, 
and  exposed  to  the  aspect  of  a  clear  sky,  are  found  to 
become  colder  than  they  would  be  if  some  screen  or 
awning  were  interposed  between  them  and  the  sky. 
In  such  circumstances,  bodies  become  much  colder 
than  the  surrounding  air,  which,  if  sufficiently  moist. 
XX.— 12 


134      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

deposits  on  them  a  portion  of  its  moisture  or  dew. 
When  the  temperature  is  low,  the  dew  is  frozen  and 
forms  hoar-frost. 

Dew  never  occurs  in  nights  both  cloudy  and  Avindy  ; 
and  if,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  tlie  weather  from  be- 
ing serene  should  become  dark  and  stormy,  dew  which 
had  been  deposited  will  disappear.  In  calm  weather, 
more  dew  will  appear  if  the  sky  be  partially  covered 
with  clouds  than  if  it  were  quite  clear.  It  often  hap- 
pens, that,  even  before  sunset,  dew  begins  to  adhere  to 
grass  in  spots  which  are  sheltered  from  both  sun  and 
wind  ;  for  in  clear  weather  such  spots  suffer  much 
from  the  chilling  aspect  of  the  sky,  and  may  often  con- 
tinue to  acquire  dew  during  the  whole  night,  and  for 
some  time  after  sunrise.  The  quantity  of  dew  depends 
on  the  moisture  of  the  air,  being  greater  after  rain 
than  after  long  continued  dry  weather. 

Clouds.  —  Regarding  the  mode  in  which  clouds  are 
suspended  in  the  air,  philosophers  are  not  agreed. 
About  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  it  was 
supposed  that  the  aqueous  particles  of  clouds  were  in 
the  form  of  hollow  shells,  specifically  lighter  than  the 
air  in  which  they  float.  But  as  no  evidence  or  prob- 
ability could  be  adduced  in  favor  of  this  theory,  it  has 
given  place  to  other  speculations ;  and,  at  present,  we 
may  consider  the  suspension  of  clouds  as  an  electrical 
phenomenon. 

Rain,  Sleet,  Hail,  &c.  —  As  a  greater  quantity  of 
moisture  can  exist  in  a  given  space  as  the  temperature 
is  higher,  it  is  plain  that  there  is  a  certain  temperature 
at  which  air  containing  some  moisture  will  just  be  satu- 
rated, and  wliich  is  called  the  point  of  deposition,  or  the 


GEOGIIAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  135 

dewing  point;  foi*  if  cooled  the  least  beyond  this  the 
air  will  deposit  moisture.  When  the  cooling  in  the 
body  of  air  below  the  dew  point  is  very  slight,  the  ef- 
fect is  merely  to  disturb  the  transparency,  or  produce  a 
fog.  In  the  case  of  dew,  formally  considered,  the 
transparency  is  not  affected  ;  because  it  is  not  the  mass 
of  air  that  is  cooled  below  the  point  of  deposition,  but 
only  a  minute  portion  of  it  that  comes  into  contact  with 
surfaces  cooled  by  radiation.  When  the  cooling  of  a 
body  of  air  beyond  the  dew  point  is  considerable,  the 
water  is  deposited  more  copiously,  and,  collecting  into 
drops,  descends  to  the  earth  in  the  form  of  rain ;  or  if 
the  temperature  be  sufficiently  low,  the  drops  are  par- 
tially frozen,  and  form  slcct ;  if  fully  frozen,  S7ww ; 
and  if  such  drops  be  large  and  compact,  they  rcceivd 
the  appellation  of  hail. 

Rain  is  very  unequally  distributed  to  the  different 
regions  of  the  globe ;  but  nature  has  so  arranged  it, 
that  it  is  most  copious  in  those  latitudes  where  evapora- 
tion is  most  rapid.  There  are,  however,  exceptions  to 
this  rule  ;  for  on  several  tracts  of  the  earth's  surface,  it 
hardly  ever  rains.  These  are  usually  far  inland,  ane 
are  generally  extensive  plains,  utterly  sterile  and  unin- 
habitable. The  want  of  rain  is  in  some  places  partially 
supplied  by  the  copious  deposition  of  dew.  On  the 
contrary,  there  are  some  spots  where  it  always  rains, 
and  which  are  mostly  on  the  sea.  As  the  whole  atmos- 
phere when  fully  charged  with  humidity  is  calculated 
to  hold  no  more  water  than  would  form  a  sheet  five 
inches  in  depth,  while  the  mean  annual  deposit  is  about 
thirty-five  or  forty  inches,  it  is  plain  that  the  supply 
must  be  frequently  renewed.     Rain  is  more  abundant 


136     GEOGRAPHICAI,  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

toward  the  equator  than  tlie  poles,  —  at  the  sea-coast 
than  towards  the  mterior,  —  and  on  elevated  stations 
tlian  on  plams. 

Glaciers.  —  Ice  and  snow  absorb  a  large  portion  of 
heat  during  liquefaction,  which  they  give  out  again  on 
freezing ;  for,  in  the  ordinary  process  of  nature,  water 
does  not  cool  below  32°  Fahrenheit,  till  the  whole  be 
frozen ;  nor  does  its  temperature  rise  above  that  point, 
while  in  contact  with  ice  and  snow,  —  that  is,  till  the 
whole  be  melted.  This  property  has  an  important  ef- 
fect on  the  temperature  of  snowy  districts.  It  retards 
and  often  prevents  the  occurrence  of  extreme  cold,  and 
it  opposes  a  sudden  rise  of  temperature  above  the 
freezing  point.  The  cold  in  the  atmosphere,  as  was 
formerly  stated,  eontinually  increases  with  the  eleva- 
tion ;  and  at  a  certain  height,  depending  on  the  climate 
or  latitude,  perpetual  frost  prevails.  Where  the  earth's 
surface  attains  this  height,  it  is,  with  the  exception  of 
some  steep  or  vertical  cliffs,  continually  covered  with 
snow.  The  snow  acquires  new  additions  from  time  to 
time  ;  for  though  it  may  melt  slowly,  from  the  heat  of 
the  ground  on  which  it  rests,  yet  it  suffers  little  decay 
externally,  except  what  the  air  carries  off  by  evapora- 
tion. The  warmth  of  the  solar  rays  may  soften  it  a 
little,  but  this  only  tends  to  its  farther  consolidation. 
Masses  of  this  soil  are  called  glaciers. 

By  accumulating  in  the  manner  just  mentioned,  they 
often  become  top-heavy,  or  acquire  such  an  enormous 
weight  as  to  break  their  hold  or  crush  their  lower 
parts,  which  are  besides  liable  to  be  undermined  by  the 
warmth  of  the  mountain  on  which  they  rest.  Hence, 
it  not  unfrequently  happens,  that  huge  masses  of  ice, 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  137 

or  conglomerated  snow,  slide  or  roll  down  the  sides  of 
mountains,  transporting,  perhaps,  large  stones  or  frag- 
ments of  rocks  to  which  they  had  adhered,  or  which 
had  been  sc[)aratcd  from  their  beds  by  the  agency  of 
the  weather.  Detached  glaciers  often  descend  into  dis- 
tricts having  a  mean  temperature  considerably  above 
the  melting  point  of  snow.  But  so  great  is  the  heat 
consumed  in  liquefying  such  huge  masses,  that  years 
may  elapse  before  they  entirely  disappear ;  and  during 
that  interval  others  descend ;  and  so  on  continually, 
so  that  the  limit  of  perpetual  snow  may  be  found  in  a 
climate  where  little  snow  falls  from  the  clouds.  When 
glaciers  descend  into  the  sea,  and  particularly  when 
detached  and  floating,  they  are  termed  icebergs. 

The  Rainbow  is  a  circular  image  of  the  sun,  vari- 
ously colored  and  produced  thus :  —  The  solar  rays,  by 
entering  the  drops  of  falling  rain,  are  refracted  to  their 
farther  surfaces,  and  thence,  by  one  or  more  reflec- 
tions, transmitted  to  the  eye.  But  on  escaping  from 
the  drop  they  undergo  a  second  refraction,  by  which 
the  rays  are  separated  into  their  different  colors  ;  and 
in  this  state  are  exhibited  to  an  eye  properly  placed  to 
receive  them.  The  rainbow  is  never  seen  but  when 
rain  is  falling,  and  the  sun  and  bow  are  always  on  op- 
posite sides  of  the  observer. 

Looming,  &c.  —  This  is  the  term  used  by  sailors  to 
express  a  curious  optical  deception  by  which  objects 
come  into  view,  though  materially  altered  as  to  their 
real  situaiion  or  position.  The  French  call  it  7nirage, 
and  the  Italians  Fata  Morgana.  It  often  happens  at 
sea,  that  a  distant  ship  appears  as  if  painted  in  the  sky, 
perhaps  in  an  mverted  position,  and  not  supported  by 
13* 


133  GEOtxRArillCAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH. 

the  water.  Sunken  rocks  and  sands  appear  as  if  raised 
above  the  surface.  The  Swedes  long  searched  in 
vain  for  an  ilkisory  island  of  this  sort,  which  they  saw 
from  a  distance,  as  if  placed  between  the  isles  of 
Aland  and  the  coast  of  Upland.  The  shipping  and  the 
buildings  on  the  shore  of  Naples  have,  from  Messina, 
sometimes  appeared  floating  inverted  in  the  air.  In 
1798,  the  French  coast  appeared  distinctly  raised  above 
the  sea,  for  an  hour,  as  viewed  from  the  opposite  shore 
of  Sussex.  To  the  French,  while  marching  in  the  Egyp- 
tian deserts,  the  sandy  plain,  covered  in  the  distance  by 
a  dense  vapor,  presented  the  illusive  image  of  a  vast 
lake,  towards  which  they  hastened,  but  never  could 
reach  it. 

Aurora  Borealis,  or  northern  light,  is  a  remarka- 
ble luminous  phenomenon  which  occurs  during  night, 
and  most  commonly  in  clear  or  frosty  weather.  It  is 
unknown  in  low  latitudes,  and  becomes  more  frequent 
as  we  recede  from  the  equator.  But  it  is  doubtful  if 
its  maximum  either  as  to  frequency  or  brilliancy  be  at 
the  pole,  for  in  the  late  north-polar  expedition  it  was 
seen  to  the  south  of  the  observer,  whereas,  at  greater 
distances  from  the  pole,  it  appears  to  the  north,  or  a 
little  to  the  west  of  north,  of  the  spectator.  It  is  usually 
of  a  reddish  color,  inclining  to  yellow,  and  sends  out 
frequent  coruscations  of  pale  light,  Avhich  seem  to  rise 
from  the  horizon  in  pyramidal,  undulating  forms,  and 
shoots  with  great  velocity  towards  the  zenith.  Some 
maintain  that  a  whizzing  noise  accompanies  this  phe- 
nomenon, but  this  is  not  very  well  ascertained. 

St.  Elmo's  Fire  is  a  faint  light  which  seems  to 
adhere  to  the  points  of  bodies  carried  swiftly  through 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      139 

the  air.  It  appears  on  the  tops  of  ship-inasts,  and  at 
the  {)oints  of"  spears  and  other  warhke  instruments 
when  in  motion.  It  is  generally  believed  to  be  an  ac- 
cumulation of  electric  matter.  A  single  flame  of  this 
sort  was  called  by  the  ancients  Helena.  When  seen 
m  pairs,  they  were  called  Castor  and  PoUux. 

Fire-Balls  are  those  luminous  bodies  which  appear 
usually  at  a  great  height  above  the  earth,  and  were  on 
that  account  long  known  by  the  term  meteor,  which  is 
now  applied  to  many  other  aerial  phenomena.  They 
present  a  very  imposing  appearance,  and  are  seen  of 
an  immense  size,  sometimes  red,  but  oftencr  of  a  vivid, 
dazzling  white.  They  traverse  the  atmosphere  with 
amazing  velocity.  This,  and  their  great  height,  have 
been  inferred  from  their  being  seen  from  various  dis- 
tant places,  almost  at  the  same  instant ;  sometimes, 
they  burst  in  pieces,  or  discharge  torrents  of  flame, 
with  a  detonation  making  both  the  air  and  earth  to 
tremble.  Some  of  these  balls  descend  like  lightning, 
break  through  roofs  of  buildings,  destroy  animals, 
and  shatter  vessels  at  sea ;  in  short,  they  are  often  at- 
tended with  all  the  disastrous  effects  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  with  which  they  are  occasionally  accompa- 
nied. Some  consider  these  balls  to  be  great  masses 
of  electric  matter  passing  from  one  place  to  another 
others  suppose  them  to  be  the  same  with  the  aerolites. 

Aerolites,  or  meteoric  stones,  have  frequently  de 
scendcd  from  the  atmosphere,  from  the  remotest  an 
tiquity.  Both  the  above  opinions  may  be  correct 
inasmuch  as  the  fire-balls  exhibit  very  different  ap 
pearances.  Philosophers  are  veiy  much  divided  re 
garding  the  origin  of  meteoric  stones.     Some  imagine 


140  GEOGEAPKICAL    VIEAV    OF    THE    EARTH. 

them  to  be  ejected  from  volcanoes  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face ;  others  from  volcanoes  on  the  moon. 

Falling  Stars  are  very  ordinary  phenomena  ev- 
erywhere, but  still  they  belong  to  a  class  that  is  not 
well  understood.  Near  the  place  of  their  apparent 
descent  a  fetid,  gelatinous  substance  has  frequently 
been  found,  of  a  whitish  yellow  color. 

Winds  are  currents  of  air  occasioned  by  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  equilibrium  of  the  atmosphere  by  the 
unequal  distribution  of  heat.  The  general  tendency 
in  such  circumstances  is,  for  the  heavier  columns  to  dis- 
place the  lighter,  and  for  the  air  at  the  earth's  surface 
to  move  from  the  poles  towards  the  equator,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis; 
another  motion  is  combined  with  the  currents  thus 
produced. 

A  variety  of  local  winds  have  also  been  observed. 
The  Etesian,  which  is  a  northerly  or  northeasterly  wind, 
prevails  very  much  in  summer,  all  over  Europe.  Pliny 
describes  it  as  blowing  regularly  in  Italy  for  forty 
days  after  the  summer  solstice.  It  is  supposed  to  be  a 
part  of  the  great  lower  current  moving  towards  the 
equator.  Another  northern  wind,  which  often  continues 
about  a  month  in  February  and  March,  is  called  the 
Ornifhian  wind,  because  some  birds  of  passage  then 
make  their  appearance  in  the  South  of  Europe.  A 
squall,  or  sudden  gust  of  wind,  is  common  in  many 
places ;  and  when  its  impetuosity  is  sufficient  to  bear 
along  trees,  buildings,  &c.,  it  is  called  a  hurricane. 
Such  winds  have  frequently  a  whirling  motion,  and  are 
accompanied  with  torrents  of  rain  or  hail,  and  even 
tliunder ;  these  are  sometimes  called  tornadoes ;  they 


GEOGEAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTII.  i41 

arc  prlnciimlly  confined  to  the  torrid  zone.  The  Siroc- 
co is  a  hot,  southern  wind,  known  on  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean ;  when  it  reaches  Naples  and  Sicily, 
it  is  very  moist  and  relaxing  to  the  human  frame 
Some  warm  climates  are  occasionally  visited  by  ex- 
cessively hot,  pestilential  winds,  generally  from  the 
south,  and  known  under  a  great  variety  of  names  in 
different  quarters.  Such  are  the  Kamsin  in  Egypt,  and 
the  Simoom  or  Samiel  of  Arabia  and  the  desert.  The 
deleterious  effects,  which  frequently  cut  off  whole  hordes 
or  caravans,  are  sometimes  ascribed  to  the  predomi- 
nance of  one  of  the  component  gases  of  the  air,  or  to 
a  mixture  of  nitrous  gas,  &c.,  but  this  is  not  well  ascer- 
tained. The  very  arid  state  of  the  air,  bearing  along 
vast  quantities  of  burning  sand  and  dust,  must  of  itself 
be  very  prejudicial  to  animal  life.  The  Harmattan 
is  a  warm,  dry,  east  wind,  which  occurs  in  Guinea,  and 
is  also  of  a  very  unwholesome  description. 

The  velocity  of  the  wind  varies  from  nothing  up  to 
one  hundred  miles  an  hour;  but  the  maximum  is 
variously  stated  by  different  authors.  According  to 
Smcaton,  a  gentle  breeze  moves  between  four  and 
five  miles  per  hour,  and  has  a  force  of  about  two 
ounces  on  a  foot ;  a  brisk  pleasant  gale  moves  from  ten 
to  fifteen  miles,  with  a  force  of  twelve  ounces ;  a  high 
wind  thirty  to  thirty-five  miles,  with  a  force  of  five  or 
six  pounds ;  a  hurricane,  bearing  along  trees,  houses, 
&;c.,  has  a  velocity  of  one  hundred  miles,  and  a  force 
of  forty-nine  pounds  on  the  square  foot. 


l'J2  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 


THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

The  diversified  forms  of  vegetation  are  usually 
clas&eJ  under  three  heads,  as  trees,  shrubs,  and  plants ; 
but,  botanically  speaking,  they  are  all  regarded  as 
plants.  The  whole  number  of  species  ascertained  is 
about  eighty  thousand,  but  probably  as  many  more 
remain  to  be  discovered.  Tliey  are  all  divided  into 
two  kinds,  the  Cryptogamia,  or  non-flowering  plants,  as 
fungi,  mosses,  lichens,  sea-weed,  &c.,  and  Phoenoga- 
mia,  or  flowering  plants. 

All  plants  are  propagated  by  seeds,  but  those  of  the 
cryptogamia  are  so  minute  as  to  have  escaped  detec- 
tion for  a  long  period,  and  their  mode  of  production 
was  till  recently  hidden  in  obscurity  or  doubt. 

All  vegetables,*  in  every  region,  have  these  proper- 
ties^ in  common  with  all  animals  and  with  the  human 
race  :  —  organization  ;  un  interior  power  of  progressive 
growth ;  a  principle  of  life,  with  many  phenomena  that 
resemble  irritability,  excitability,  and  susceptibility ; 
and  a  self-reproductive  and  multiplying  faculty.  In 
all  these  qualities  they  are  distinguished  from  inorgan- 
ic and  earthy  matter,  and  from  all  fluids  and  gases ; 
and  by  these  are  raised  high  in  the  scale  of  being 
above  them.  In  these  they  resemble  all  animated  na- 
ture, and  our  prouder  selves.  We  may  dislike  such 
a  relationship,  but  to  this  extent  our  bodily  frame  and 
functions  establish  a  natural  kingship  between  us.    They 

*  We  here  quote  from  Turner's  "  Sacred  History,"  to  which 
we  are  indebted  for  several  interesting  passages  inserted  in  the 
subsequent  pages. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      143 

are  very  humble  cousins,  but  we  cannot  destroy  the 
organical  and  Uving  affinity,  nor  escape  the  ch)sing 
assimilation.  We  decline  and  die,  as  they  do ;  and 
they  sicken,  fade,  die,  and  decay,  like  every  human 
being.  There  is  also  another  analogy.  Their  sub- 
stance nourishes  us,  and  ours  not  unfrequently  be- 
comes a  part  of  theirs.  They  can  feed  on  us,  as  we 
more  continually  and  universally  do  on  them.  All 
living  nature  is  linked  together  by  actual  cormection, 
if  not  by  perceivable  sympathies. 

It  is  not  merely  in  their  principles  and  analogies  of 
construction,  nutrition,  and  growth,  that  plants  resem- 
ble animals  ;  but  the  creative  hand  has  linked  and  es- 
tablished tlie  affinity  between  them  by  causing  some 
vegetables  to  produce  animal  products,  and  to  be,  as 
it  were,  the  animals  whose  peculiar  properties  they 
imitate.  Thus  their  living  principle,  in  peculiar  and 
adapted  organizations,  can  imitate  the  bee,  the  cow, 
and  the  sheep  ;  for  the  Myrica  Pennsylvanica  yields  an 
annual  supply  of  vegetable  wax ;  the  Palo  de  Vaca,  in 
South  America,  gives  a  copious  emission  of  actual  milk ; 
and  another  tree,  in  Guayaquil,  produces  a  fine  wool; 
while  one  in  China  secretes  a  tallow,  like  animal  fat. 
The  Tillandria,  of  Buenos  Ayres,  resembles  another 
element,  in  becoming  a  kind  of  vegetable  fountain,  for 
it  yields  on  incision  a  copious  quantity  of  pure  water. 
They  have  even  some  relations,  yet  unexplored,  with  the 
mineral  kingdom ;  for  they  not  only  form  the  carbon 
they  contain,  but  some  have  been  found  to  have  copper 
particles,  and  several  to  secrete  flint,  and  likewise  sul- 
phur, as  in  our  common  grain.  We  may  add  iron 
and  gold  also,  for  both  of  these  metals  have  been  found 


144  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

in  vegetables,  and  more  especially  the  former.  Thus 
all  the  departments  of  nature  have  been  made  with 
mntual  associations. 

The  food  of  plants  peculiarly  distinguishes  them 
from  animals.  While  these  subsist  only  on  what  has 
been  organic  matter,  vegetables  derive  their  nourish- 
ment from  that  which  is  inorganic,  as  mere  earths,  salts, 
water,  or  the  gases.  The  particles  of  these  become 
arranged  in  them,  by  the  agency  of  their  living  princi- 
ple, into  organized  substances,  and  by  this  mysterious 
process  arc  fitted  for  animal  nutrition.  The  vessels 
of  vegetables  are  so  fine  in  their  radicles  and  leaves, 
and  in  the  smaller  plants,  that  the  particles  which  they 
imbibe  must  be  in  the  most  attenuated  state.  They 
are  injured,  like  animals,  by  too  great  a  supply  of 
what  they  feed  on ;  and  hence  many  plants  decline 
or .  perish  on  too  rich  a  soil.  Each  will  grow  only  on 
that  kind  of  ground  which  suits  its  organs  or  appointed 
functions. 

The  kindred  nature  of  all  plants  is  surprisingly 
shown  by  the  power  and  effect  of  their  growing  and 
fructifying  when  grafted  on  each  other,  —  one  organi- 
zation attaching  its  vascularity  to  that  of  another,  and 
feeding  on  its  sap.  The  ancients  took  some  pleasure 
in  these  experiments,  for  Plutarch  saw,  and  notices, 
in  a  garden  on  the  Cephissus,  an  olive  upon  a  juniper, 
a  peach  upon  a  myrtle  ;  pears  upon  an  oak,  apples 
on  a  plane-tree,  and  mulberries  upon  a  fig.  In  Hol- 
land a  rose  was  grafted  on  an  orange-tree ;  and  in 
our  times,  carnations  have  been  ingrafted  on  fennel, 
and  a  peach  upon  a  mulberry.  So  an  inhabitant  of 
Lyons  inserted  on  the  same  stem  red  and  white  grapes, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      145 

peaches,  and  apricots.  Such  facts  prove  the  abso- 
lute similarity  in  nature  of  the  different  classes  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom.  Their  general  system  and  princi- 
ple of  life  are  the  same.  It  is  the  specific  and  pur- 
posed variation  of  their  organizations,  which,  from  the 
same  material  elements,  causes  the  specific  diversities 
of  their  products  to  appear.  No  result  is  a  random 
accident. 

Plants  have  been  manifestly  designed  and  framed 
on  the  principle  of  improvability.  This  also  highly 
distinguishes  the  latent  powers  of  their  living  principle, 
and  its  vast  superiority  over  inorganic  matter.  It  is  a 
truly  wondrous  faculty,  for  it  is  one  of  the  greatest 
distinctions  of  man.  Animals  have  it  to  a  certain  de- 
gree, but  very  limited,  and  apparently  far  less  than 
vegetables.  The  productivity  of  animals  cannot  be 
increased  like  that  of  plants.  The  human  capacity 
for  progression  is  not  more  clearly  visible  than  that  of 
which  so  many  vegetables  have  been  found  suscep- 
tible, and  it  may  not  unreasonably  be  inferred  to  be  a 
law  of  their  constitution.  Very  agreeable,  but  sur- 
prising, transformations  have  arisen  from  this  prop- 
erty. The  rose  is  the  product  of  cultivation.  The 
original  plant  from  which  all  our  beautiful  varieties 
have  proceeded  is  considered  by  botanists  to  be  the 
common  wild  brier.  Our  plums  are  the  cultivated 
descendants  of  the  sloe ;  the  peach  and  nectarines, 
of  the  common  almond-tree  ;  filberts  are  the  improve- 
ments of  the  wild-hazel ;  the  delicious  apples,  whose 
species  may  be  now  reckoned  by  hundreds,  are  the 
cultured  successors  of  the  small  austere  crabs  and 
wildings,  which  swine  will  scarcely  eat;  the  original 
10       XX.— 13 


146  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAETH. 

pear  is  a  petty  fruit,  as  hard  and  crude  as  the  crab- 
apple.  Our  grain  was  once  in  a  state  very  like  grass; 
our  cauliflowers,  cabbages,  and  other  domestic  vege- 
tables, are  the  artificial  products  of  human  skill  and 
of  vegetable  improvabilitj'. 

The  vegetable  kingdom,  in  its  varied  flowers,  foliage, 
stems,  and  graceful  and  delicate  expansions,  in  its 
playful  branches  and  gentle  movements,  and  in  its 
multiplied  fruits  and  useful  products,  of  numerous  sorts 
and  of  universal  application,  displays  a  peculiar  good- 
ness, liberality,  and  kindness  in  the  Divine  Mind  to- 
wards his  human  race,  —  a  desire  to  please,  to  inter- 
est and  to  amuse  us  with  the  most  innocent,  continual, 
accessible,  and  gratifying  enjoyments.  For,  plants 
peculiarly  address  themselves  to  three  of  our  most 
used  senses,  —  the  taste,  the  smell,  and  the  sight ; 
while  the  ear  is  also  soothed  by  the  whispering  of  the 
branches,  and  the  touch  by  the  softness  of  the  verdant 
and  floral  foliage,  and  of  most  of  the  fruits. 

The  rudest  as  well  as  the  most  refined  minds  feel 
and  confess  the  beauty  of  plants,  and  in  all  ages  have 
availed  themselves  of  it  for  personal  decoration.  Ana- 
creon  sweetly  sings  his  delight  derived  from  vege- 
table nature,  —  and  especially  the  rose,  —  though  he 
also  twines  the  lily  and  the  hyacinth  round  his  fore- 
head, as  an  attractive  and  festive  ornament.  The 
presence  of  flowers,  and  the  scenery  and  companions 
which  always  surround  them,  have  excited  in  many 
poets,  of  all  nations,  their  finest  thoughts  and  feelings. 
As  in  one  of  the  delicious  passages  of  Milton,  which 
aas  never  been  excelled  :  — 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      147 

"  Sweet  is  the  breath  of  morn  ;  her  rising  sweet, 
With  ciiann  of  earliest  birds:  pleasant  the  sun, 
When  first  on  this  delightful  land  he  spreads 
His  orient  beams,  on  herb,  tree,  fruit,  and  flower, 
Glistering  with  dew  :  fragrant  the  fertile  earth 
After  soft  showers  ;  and  sweet  the  coming  on 
Of  grateful  evening  mild  :  Then,  silent  night. 
With  this  her  solemn  bird  ;  and  this  fair  moon. 
And  these,  the  gems  of  heaven,  her  starry  train. 
But  neither  breath  of  morn,  when  she  ascends 
With  charm  of  earliest  birds  ;  nor  rising  sun 
On  this  delightful  land  ;  nor  herb,  fruit,  flower. 
Glistering  with  dew  ;  nor  fragrance  after  showers ; 
Nor  grateful  evening  mild  ;  nor  walk  by  moon. 
Or  glittering  starlight,  without  Thee,  is  sweet." 

It  has  been  a  favorite  theme  to  the  imagination  to 
fancy,  or  to  sing,  that  herbs,  and  flowers,  and  trees 
could  sympathize  with  human  sorrow.  Thus  Moschus, 
in  his  Greek  hexameter  epitaph  on  Bion,  indulges  the 
supposition  of  the  possible  sensibility  of  vegetable 
nature :  — 

"  Mourn  with  me,  ye  plants  !  woods  !  now  bewail ! 
Sigh,  O  flowers !  from  your  sorrowing  stems; 
Blush  mournfully,  ye  roses  I  anemone  ! 
Hyacinth  !  now  speak  in  your  symbol  letters. 
And  by  your  floral  leaves  more  than  common 
Express  your  tokens  of  grief     The  beautiful  singer  is  dead  !" 

The  Greeks  used  flowers  as  part  of  their  funeral  trib- 
butes  of  regard  ;  and  their  priests  consecrated  to  Iris 
the  trees  on  which  the  rainbow  seemed  to  rest.  The 
Turks  preserve  the  ancient  use  of  flowers  as  sy  mbols 
of  the  language  of  the  feelings,  and  make  them  the 
silent  and  secret  epistolary  messengers  of  their  sensi- 
bilities.    They   also    apply   them   lavishly  round  the 


148  GEOGKArillCAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

graves  of  those  they  love,  to  express  their  attachment 
and  grief. 

But  however  fanciful  these  ideas  and  customs  may 
be,  they  bear  evidence  how  eminently  vegetable  nature 
has  at  all  periods  and  in  all  countries  affected  the  imag- 
ination and  the  feelings  of  mankind.  It  is  a  fair  infer- 
ence from  the  universal  fact,  and  from  the  concurring' 
impressions  on  ourselves,  that  they  were  made  to  have 
this  interesting  effect,  as  well  as  to  beautify  our  inhab- 
ited regions.  But  it  is  not  an  imagination — it  is  a 
sober  reality  —  to  say,  that,  wherever  they  have  been 
cherished  and  cultivated,  they  have  drawn  the  human 
spirit  to  seek  and  value  the  gentler  and  kinder  disposi- 
tions and  occupations  of  our  movable,  irascible,  and 
sturdy  self-will. 

The  utility  of  the  vegetable  creation  is  as  apparent 
as  its  beauty.  Without  vegetation,  none  of  the  ani- 
mals we  know,  but  those  that  live  on  water  or  air, 
could  have  continued  in  existence ;  for  neither  man 
nor  animal  can  subsist  on  any  thing  in  the  mineral 
kingdom,  until  vegetation,  by  first  making  it  vegetable 
substance,  has  prepared  it  for  a  future  conversion  into 
their  own.  Hence  the  justness  of  the  Mosaic  account, 
in  placing  the  creation  of  plants  before  that  of  animals. 
Vegetation  could  have  remained  without  animals, — 
but  these,  unless  their  food  had  been  ready  for  them, 
would,  under  their  present  economy  of  being,  have 
soon  disappeared. 

While  most  of  our  plants  thus  form  the  sustenance 
and  banquet  of  the  animated  kingdom,  other  classes  of 
them  were  made  and  meant  to  be  its  natural  medicines 
and  secret  physicians.     For  this  purpose,  those  which 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH.      149 

thus  benefit  arc  universally  dispersed.  We  may  regard 
many  of  these  as  useless  weeds,  yet  they  silently  spread 
amid  all  vegetation,  to  be  everywhere  ready  for  the 
general  benefit.  Brutes  often  need  them  as  much  as 
ourselves,  and  are  repeatedly  seen  at  particular  times 
to  select  and  crop  the  herbs  that  they  do  not  use  for 
food,  but  to  which  some  recollected  experience,  or  un- 
explainable  perception  or  instinct,  leads  them,  for  their 
resulting  efficiencies.  Some  of  these  useful  plants  are 
also  so  interspersed  with  their  daily  sustenance,  that 
they  cannot  take  the  one  without  always  digesting  the 
other.  But  to  man,  plants  have  been  in  all  ages  the  nat- 
ural, and  the  earliest,  and  the  most  universal  physicians. 
The  metallic  and  mineral  drugs  of  our  modern  pharma- 
copoeias have  not  been  above  three  centuries  in  their 
sanitary  use.  Vegetable  medicines  constituted  the 
physic  of  our  ancestors,  as  they  still  are  of  all  nations 
■who  do  not  make  European  science  their  predominat- 
ing guide. 

When  we  consider  that  vegetation  carpets  all  the 
surface  of  our  globe  ;  and  that  its  shrubs  and  forests 
still  occupy  the  largest  portion  of  its  superficial  extent ; 
and  when  we  find  that  it  is  universally,  by  day  and  by 
night,  streaming  from  its  verdure,  —  from  every  leaf, 
fruit,  and  flower,  —  an  aerial  fluid  of  some  sort  or  oth- 
er, and  in  the  lower  region  of  the  atmosphere,  imme- 
diately over  our  heads,  and  mixing  in  the  gaseous 
strata  of  it  which  we  breathe  ;  we  shall  perceive  that  it 
must  be  hourly  causing  the  most  irr  portant  efiects,  addi- 
tions, and  changes  in  the  air  which  we  inhale,  and  must 
be  a  very  essential  and  active  agent  on  the  vitality, 
functions,  and  powers  of  our  material  frame. 
13* 


150     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

But  besides  these  uses  of  vegetation  as  medicine,  it 
is  also  everj'where  contributing  to  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  man  in  his  domestic  and  social  life,  ac- 
cording as  his  skill  and  diligence  discover  its  applicable 
uses,  and  invent  the  means  of  making  them  advanta- 
geous to  him.  Hence  the  innumerable  improvements 
in  all  the  arts  and  manufactin-es  which  human  ingenu- 
ity has  appropriated,  and  which  are  daily  increasing. 
This  must  be  a  familiar  subject  of  observation  to  all. 
It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  notice  only  a  few,  as  speci- 
mens of  what  thus  abound. 

Thus  the  sago  palm-tree  on  the  Orinoco  supplies 
the  Guanacas  with  all  that  they  need.  They  live  in  it 
and  upon  it,  wth  scarcely  a  possibility  of  exhausting  its 
supplies.  The  banana  is  as  bountiful  a  friend  to  myr- 
iads of  our  fellow-beings  in  the  East,  both  in  its  pro- 
duce, and  its  power  of  rapid  multiplication.  The 
Canadian  birch-tree,  in  its  mere  bark,  is  a  valuable 
supply  of  conveniences  to  the  Indian  nations.  The 
breadfruit-tree  has  a  bark  from  which  the  Tahitians 
make  several  varieties  of  their  native  cloth.  Of  the 
trunk  they  build  their  canoes  and  houses  and  their  ar- 
ticles of  furniture,  and  extract  a  valuable  resin ;  and 
they  live  upon  its  abundant  fruit.  Their  cocoanut-tree 
is  still  more  serviceable  for  the  conveniences,  as  well 
as  food,  which  it  profusely  yields.  The  hemp,  flax, 
and  cotton  plants  are  known  to  all. 

Enumerations  of  this  sort  might  be  made  from  all 
the  regions  of  the  globe.  Nothing  is  useless  in  vege- 
table nature.  Even  the  thistles  we  despise  and  eradi 
cate,  the  dandelion,  which  we  ridicule,  the  nettle, 
■vhich  we  dislike,  and  the  rush,  which   we  undervalue 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      151 

are  all  convertible  into  beneficial  uses.  They  have  all, 
in  some  age  or  other,  contributed  to  human  comfort  or 
convenience.  The  most  intellectual  of  our  arts,  which 
gives  to  ideal  beauty  a  visible  form,  is  greatly  indebted 
to  botanical  productions  for  some  of  those  pleasing 
colors  which  imbodyits  conceptions.  From  them,  also, 
manv  valuable  dyes  are  obtained  ;  and  more  are  yet 
attainable  by  persevering  experiment.  Even  the  veg- 
etation of  the  marshes,  though  unfit  for  alimentary 
herbs  or  for  habitation,  becomes  serviceable  by  the 
turf  which  it  produces,  and  is  always  renewing,  as  it  is 
removed,  for  domestic  comfort.  The  maritime  also 
assists  some  portions  of  mankind  with  food  and  medi- 
cine, and  materials  for  manufacture.  *  The  lichens 
likewise  extend  similar  utilities  to  society  ;  the  fungi, 
though  deleterious  when  unwisely  applied,  yet  have 
properties  that  are  available  to  medical  skill ;  while 
ferns  are  not  less  auxiliary  to  our  use  and  comfort. 

These  latter  plants  might  seem  among  the  least  at- 
tractive in  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  nay,  some  of  therr 
are  even  disgusting  to  the  sight :  yet  they  furnish  as 
striking  evidence  of  utility  as  even  the  higher  forms  of 
vegetation.  The  fungi,  for  instance,  are  observable  in 
a  great  variety  of  forms,  and,  among  others,  mush- 
rooms, toadstools,  puff-balls,  the  fungous  dry-rot,  fer- 
mentation, mildew,  and  mould.  AVe  may  take  the  las* 
mentioned  as  about  the  lowest  in  the  group.  Mould,  as 
most  persons  are  awtirc,  makes  its  appearance  on  the 
surface  of  various  familiar  objects,  —  decaying  paste, 
fruit-preserves,  cheese,  and  old  shoes.  It  never  appeai-a 
on  any  thing  which  is  new  or  fresh,  but  is  always  a 
harbinger  of  decay,  and  may  be  considered  a  first  s'cej 


152  GEOGrwvrnicAL  view  of  the  earth. 

towards  the  decomposition  of  the  substance  into  its  ccn- 
stituent  elements.  How  vegetation  should  appear  in 
so  secluded  a  situation  as  the  inner  cracks  in  cheese, 
or  in  a  jar  of  preserves  placed  carefully  away  in  a  cup- 
board, or  on  the  leather  of  an  old  boot  in  the  remote 
corner  of  a  bed-closet,  is  at  first  sight  incomprehensi- 
ble ;  but  a  consideration  of  the  reproductive  powers  of 
fungi  at  once  explains  the  circumstance. 

The  whole  of  the  fungous  tribe  possesses  the  most  ex- 
traordinary productive  powers.  Instead  of  propagating 
by  the  ordinary  and  slow  process  of  elaborating  and 
throwing  off  seeds,  they  increase  by  the  dispersal  of 
their  entire  substance.  Every  particle  in  their  mass  is 
a  germ,  or  teehnically  a  spore,  which,  though  smaller 
in  bulk  than  a  particle  of  fine  dust,  and  generally  so 
minute  as  to  be  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  is  the  em- 
bryo of  a  new  plant,  and  will  dcvelope  its  powers  of 
vegetation  as  soon  as  placed  in  an  appropriate  situation 
for  its  growth.  In  this  manner,  a  toadstool,  having 
performed  its  office  and  exhausted  its  means  of  nour- 
ishment, shrinks,  dries,  and  dissolves  in  millions  of 
atoms,  which,  being  liberated  and  floated  away  in  the 
atmosphere,  are  deposited  in  every  imaginable  situa- 
tion. Some  are  inhaled  into  the  lungs  of  animals, 
while  others  enter  into  the  fabric  of  trees  and  herbs, 
and,  in  short,  they  find  admission  into  every  exposed 
and  penetrable  substance.  It  is,  however,  a  distinct 
pi'inciple  in  fungous  vegetation,  that  it  can  develope  it- 
self only  in  decaying  bodies.  Decay,  or  liability  to 
decay,  is  necessary  for  its  fructification  ;  and  when 
this  condition  ensues,  and  other  circumstances  are  suit- 
able, the  embryo  expands  and  rises  with  surprising  ra- 
pidity into  notice. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      153 

A  very  remarkable  kind  of  fungous  vegetation  is 
known  to  make  its  appearance  in  wine-cellars,  the  sub- 
stance which  supplies  tlie  growth  being  the  vapor  from 
the  wine  in  the  casks  or  bottles.  If  the  cellar  be  airy 
and  dry,  the  vapor  escapes,  and  no  fungous  vegetation 
is  manifested  ;  but  if  it  be  somewhat  damp  and  secluded 
from  air  and  light,  the  fungous  growth  becomes  at  once 
apparent.  Round  every  cork  a  mould-like  vegetation 
will  exhibit  itself,  and  the  vapor  from  the  casks,  rising 
to  the  vaulted  roof,  will  there  afford  nourishment  to 
great  festoons  and  waving  banners  of  fungi.  In  the 
wine-vaults  of  the  London  docks,  this  kind  of  vinous 
fungi  hangs,  like  dark,  woolly  clouds,  from  the  roof, 
completely  shrouding  the  brick  arches  from  observa- 
tion. On  a  small  piece  being  torn  off  and  applied  to 
the  flame  of  a  candle,  it  burns  like  a  piece  of  tinder. 
Should  wine  escape  from  a  cask  in  a  moist  and  ill- 
ventilated  cellar,  it  will  altogether  resolve  itself  into 
fungi  of  a  substantial  kind. 

The  disease  called  rust,  which  affects  grain  in  the 
ear,  particularly  in  moist  seasons,  is  well  known  to  be  a 
fungous  vegetation,  proceeding  from  germs  which  had 
previously  existed  in  the  substance  of  the  plants.  In  a 
dry  season,  and  on  a  favorable  soil,  rust  rarely  makes 
its  appearance  ;  certain  conditions  are  necessary  for  its 
development,  and  it  is  by  obviating  these  that  the  farmer 
must  hope  for  exemption  from  this  destructive  malady 
in  his  crops. 

Offensive  in  appearance  as  nearly  all  fungous  veg- 
etables are,  and  injurious  as  they  may  sometimes  be  to 
the  crops  of  the  husband, nan,  they  perform  a  highly 
useful  office  in  creation      Existing  only  by  the  absorp- 


154      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

tion  of  fetid  exlmlations,  and  rapidly  depriving  theru 
of  their  insalubrious  properties,  they  execute  duties 
analogous  to  those  of  certain  tribes  of  insects,  —  maggot- 
flies,  for  instance,  —  and  in  this  respect  have  been 
appropriately  associated  with  these  animals  as  the 
"  scavengers  of  nature."  On  this  point  in  their  econ- 
omy, a  naturalist  observes  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  peculiarity  of  their  agency  consists  in  their 
power  of  suddenly  multiplying  their  numbers  to  a  de- 
gree which  could  only  be  accomplished  in  a  considera- 
ble lapse  of  time  by  any  laraer  beings,  and  then  as 
instantaneously  relapsing,  without  the  intervention  of 
any  violent  disturbing  cause,  to  their  former  insignifi- 
cance. If,  for  the  sake  of  employing  on  different  but 
rare  occasions  a  power  of  many  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  horses,  we  were  under  the  necessity  of  feeding  all 
these  animals  at  a  great  cost  in  the  intervals  when  their 
services  were  not  required,  we  should  greatly  admire 
the  invention  of  a  machine,  such  as  the  steam-engine, 
which  should  be  capable  at  any  moment  of  exerting 
the  same  degree  of  strength,  without  any  consumption 
of  food  during  the  periods  of  inaction ;  and  the  same 
kind  of  admiration  is  strongly  excited  when  we  con- 
template the  powers  of  insect  and  fungous  life,  in  the 
creation  of  which  nature  has  been  so  prodigal,  A 
scanty  number  of  minute  individuals,  only  to  be  de- 
lected by  careful  research,  and  often  not  detectable  at 
all,  are  ready,  in  a  few  days  or  weeks,  to  give  birth  to 
myriads,  which  may  repress  or  remove  the  nuisances 
referred  to.  But  no  sooner  has  the  commission  been 
executed,  than  the  gigantic  power  becomes  dormant ; 
each  of  the  mighty  host  soon  reaches  the  term  of  its 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  155 

transient  existence ;  and  when  the  fitting  food  lessens 
in  quantity,  when  the  ofl'al  to  be  removed  diminishes, 
then  fewer  of  the  spores  find  soil  on  which  to  germi- 
nate ;  and  when  the  whole  has  been  consumed,  the 
legions  before  so  active  all  return  to  their  latent  unno- 
ticed state,  ready,  however,  at  a  moment's  warning, 
again  to  be  developed ;  and,  when  labor  is  to  be  done 
again,  again  to  commence  their  work,  either  in  the 
same  districts,  or  to  migrate  in  clouds,  like  locusts,  to 
other  lands.  In  almost  every  season  there  are  some 
species,  but  especially  in  autumn  there  are  many, 
which  in  this  manner  put  forth  their  strength ;  and 
then,  like  the  spirits  of  the  poet,  which  thronged  the 
spacious  hall,  '  reduce  to  smallest  forms  their  shapes 
immense.' " 

It  will  now  be  understood  that  mould  is  a  fungous 
vegetation,  produced  by  a  previous  deposit  of  germs  in 
the  tissue  or  on  the  surface  of  the  object  on  which  it 
grows.  The  proximate  cause  of  its  development  is 
generally  damp,  and,  without  this  condition,  the  embryo 
remains  in  a  dormant  state.  Still,  it  may  be  asked, 
how  cheese  happens  to  have  green  mould  at  its  very 
centre  :  the  reply  is,  that  the  fungous  germs  floating  in 
the  atmosphere  had  various  opportunities  of  finding  ad- 
mission into  this  article  of  diet.  They  may  have  been 
deposited  on  the  grass  of  a  field ;  the  grass  was  eaten 
by  the  cow,  and  the  germs  were  so  lodged  in  the  milk ; 
or,  what  is  more  probable,  the  germs  fell  upon  the 
curd,  and  there  lay  concealed  till  a  certain  dampness 
in  the  cheese  brought  their  vegetative  powers  into  op- 
eration. It  is  well  known  that  the  exposure  of  curd 
for  a  day  to  the  atmosphere  will  have  the  cficct  of  pro- 


156     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

ducing  cheese  liable  to  mould.  The  mouldiness  of 
Stilton  cheese  is  produced  by  practising  this  device. 
Those  who  wish  to  make  sweet  cheese,  not  readily  li- 
able to  mould,  should  avoid  exposing  the  curd  to  the 
atmosphere. 

We  may  learn  from  these  observations  that  the 
germs  of  fungi,  necessary  to  produce  dry-rot,  mould, 
fermentation,  and  other  species,  are  dispersed  through- 
out all  organic  matter.  Every  thing  we  eat,  drink, 
taste,  or  which  ministers  to  our  wants,  contains  the 
germs  of  fungi,  and  all  that  is  required  to  bring  them 
into  visible  operation  are  certain  conditions  of  decay, 
heat,  and  moisture. 

On  the  stones  by  the  side  of  brooks  we  may  some- 
times observe  a  reddish  coloring  matter,  which,  if  not 
caused  by  metallic  ores,  will  generally  be  found  to  be 
a  primitive  kind  of  vegetation.  When  touched,  it  feels 
slippery,  and,  on  examination  by  a  microscope,  it  is  ob- 
served to  be  formed  of  myriads  of  plants,  each  consist- 
ing of  a  small  vesicle  or  globule,  which,  on  arriving  at 
maturity,  expands,  bursts,  and  liberates  plants  of  its 
own  species.  This  exceedingly  humble  plant  is  classed 
with  the  algse,  as  being  the  nearest  to  it  in  character, 
although  these  plants  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  large 
size,  and  grow  principally  on  rocks  in  the  sea. 

The  object  which  nature  has  in  view  by  the  germi- 
nation and  dispersal  of  the  algse,  mosses,  and  lichens, 
is  clearly  that  of  preparing  the  way  for  a  higher  order 
of  vegetation.  It  cannot  possibly  escape  our  observa- 
tion, that  the  tendency  to  vegetate  is  a  power  restless 
and  perpetual.  We  hew  a  stone  from  the  quarry  and 
place  it  in  a  damp  situation,  ou  the  ground  or  in  a  wall, 


GEOGKAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  157 

it  is  all  the  same  which,  and  shortly  a  green  hue  be- 
gins to  creep  over  it.  This  is  the  commencement  of  a 
vegetable  growth,  produced  by  germs  floated  in  the 
atmosphere,  and  being  attached  at  random  to  the  stone, 
have  been  brought  to  life  through  the  agency  of  the 
moisture. 

Nature  is  incessantly  working  out  vast  ends  by  hum- 
ble and  scarcely  recognizable  means.  It  seems  to  be 
a  principle  that  nothing  shall  remain  stationary  or  un- 
changed. The  whole  surface  of  our  planet  is  every 
instant  altering  in  its  features.  Mountains  are  being 
washed  down  into  the  plains,  rocks  are  mouldering  into 
soil,  the  sea  is  filling  up  at  one  place  and  encroaching 
on  the  land  at  another,  and  water-courses  are  constant- 
ly shifting  their  outlines.  The  duty  of  filling  up  seas, 
ponds,  lakes,  and  rivers,  is  consigned  to  divers  means 
within  the  animal  and  vegetable  economy,  and  one  of 
these  is  the  growth  of  algffi  and  other  aquatic  ])lants. 
Take  a  pond  of  water,  and  shut  off  its  means  of  supply 
from  rivulets  and  springs,  and  then  observe  what  an 
effort  nature  will  make  to  fill  it  up.  The  sides  and 
bottom  become  speedily  covered  with  a  lu.xuriant  crop 
of  conferva) ;  other  plants,  which  grow  only  in  water, 
begin  to  make  their  appearance,  their  seeds  being 
wafted  thither  by  winds ;  at  length  the  superficial  mat- 
ting of  herbage  is  able  to  support  the  weight  of  birds, 
grass  grows,  there  is  alternate  vegetation  and  decay, 
and  finally  the  pond  is  filled  up.  This  routine  is  ob- 
servable in  many  small  lakes  which  are  fed  by  weak 
springs,  and  except  for  an  artificial  clearing  out  oc- 
casionally they  would  in  a  short  time  become  diy 
land.     What,  indeed,   are   the  extensive   peat-mosses 

TT,— M 


158  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAriTII. 

but  lakes   and    pools   choked   with  vegetable    matter, 
which  remains  in  a  half-consumed  condition  ? 

The  importance  of  vegetation,  in  the  economy  of 
nature,  is  thus  as  apparent  in  the  humbler,  as  the 
more  imposing  plants.  The  means  adopted  to  cover 
every  part  of  the  earth  with  these  agents  display  the 
wisdom  of  Providence,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  in 
making  various  objects  the  instruments  of  completing 
its  designs.  We  might  naturally  be  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  vegetation  found  its  way  to  places  that  originally 
had  none,  and  that  are  not  likely  to  have  been  visited 
by  what  would  bring  them.  How,  for  instance,  could 
the  frozen  soil  of  New  Shetland,  amid  the  ice-rocks 
of  the  Antarctic,  obtain  the  lichens,  the  only  vegetable 
found,  or  perhaps  growable,  upon  it?  How  have  the 
coral  islands  of  the  Pacific,  formed  in  the  bosom  of 
the  waves  by  the  petty  anlmalculfE  that  construct  them, 
derived  their  fine  cocoanut-trees  and  beautiful  forests  ? 
How  can  the  new  volcanic  island  that  has  just  emerged 
from  the  shallow  bottom  of  the  Sicilian  Sea,  ever  ac- 
quire, as  it  will  do,  a  productive  vegetation  ? 

The  answer  is  easily  given.  The  clouds,  ever  float- 
ing above  us,  not  only  bring  us  occasionally  meteoric 
stones,  hail,  and  epidemics,  but  also  vegetable  seeds, 
and  the  very  lichens  that  would  commence  the  new 
reign  of  vegetation  on  the  bleak  rocks  of  the  south- 
polar  isles.  Dust  and  sands,  heavier  than  many  seeds, 
are  borne  by  the  winds  and  clouds  for  several  hun- 
dred miles  across  the  atmosphere,  falling  on  the  earth 
and  seas  as  they  pass  along.  The  cryptogamia,  and 
many  of  the  grassy  seeds,  are  not  more  weighty  than 
matter  of  this  sort,  which  the   aerial  movement  thus 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      159 

transports.  The  sea,  and  its  tides  and  currents,  con- 
vey larger  bodies  for  even  thousands  of  miles.  The 
winds  carry  over  the  seeds  of  large  trees,  and  disperse 
new  vegetations  with  an  extraordinaiy  rapidity,  and  to 
an  extent  which,  anterior  to  the  experience,  we  should 
not  have  expected.  Birds  also  largely  diffuse  them. 
Many  of  these  tenants  of  the  trees  and  air  live  on  fruit 
and  berries.  They  digest  the  pulp,  but  pass  the  seeds 
unimpaired;  and  thus  heavy  organizations  of  future 
trees  are  planted  in  the  most  distant  and  unexpected 
situations.  The  parasitical  mistletoe,  converted  by  the 
stern  Druids  of  opr  British  predecessors  into  an  instru- 
ment of  their  governing  superstition,  and  which  they 
gathered  from  the  tree  on  which  it  fed  with  such  im- 
posing solemnity,  thus  attains  its  lofty,  and,  in  the  days 
of  ignorance,  mysterious  situation.  The  digestive  ac- 
tion of  the  feathered  race  upon  them  improves,  in 
some  cases,  instead  of  injuring  their  growing  energy. 
"Waves,  winds,  and  birds  fully  explain  the  vegetations 
of  every  coral  and  volcanic  island.  The  amazing 
muscular  power  and  vital  energy  of  birds  to  sustain 
their  flights  in  their  migrations,  for  distances  that  as- 
tonish us,  will  account  for  the  plantations  of  the  most 
distant  isles  and  continents.  Even  insects  people  in- 
land ponds  and  streams  with  fish,  and  are  often  them- 
selves carried  by  the  winds  to  great  distances.  Thus 
showers  of  their  larva)  have  often  fallen  from  the 
clouds.  From  all  these  facts,  no  individual  of  right 
judgment  can  have  any  difficulty  in  perceiving  how 
the  most  remote  and  unvisited  regions  have  derived 
their  varied  vegetation.  We  need  not  have  recourse 
to  the  unsupported  hypothesis  of  spontaneous  produc- 


160  GEOGrwVPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

tion,  wliicli  no  circumstance  that  has  been  fully  under- 
stood has  at  any  time  occurred  to  prove.  When  once 
a  vegetable  has  become  rooted  in.  a  soil,  it  is  capable, 
if  unchecked,  of  spreading  to  an  indefinite  extent. 
One  tree  has,  in  some  regions,  propagated  into  a  large 
forest.  But  the  possible  produce  which  may  issue 
from  a  single  individual  of  this  department  of  nature, 
like  other  facts  that  we  have  noticed,  extends  into 
calculations  which  exceed  our  comprehending  faculty. 
We  may  close  these  remarks  in  the  striking  words 
of  the  author  from  whom  we  have  largely  quoted. 
The  vegetable  kingdom  expands  everywhere  before 
us  an  immense  portraiture  of  the  Divine  Mind,  in  its 
contriving  skill,  profuse  imagination,  conceiving  genius, 
and  exquisite  taste,  as  well  as  its  interesting  qualities 
of  the  most  gracious  benignity  and  the  most  benevo- 
lent munificence.  The  various  flowers  we  behold 
awaken  these  sentiments  within  us,  and  compel  our 
reason  to  make  these  perceptions  and  this  inference. 
They  are  the  annual  heralds  and  ever-returning  pledges 
to  us  of  his  continuing  beneficence,  of  his  desire  to 
please  and  to  benefit  us,  and  therefore  of  his  parental 
and  intellectual  amiabilities.  They  come  to  us,  to- 
gether with  the  attendant  seasons  that  nurse  and  evolve 
them,  as  the  appointed  assurances  that  the  world  we 
inhabit  is  yet  to  be  preserved,  and  the  present  course 
of  things  go  on.  The  thunder,  the  pestilence,  and  the 
tempest  awe  and  humble  us  into  dismaying  recollec- 
tions of  his  tremendous  omnipotence  and  possible  vis- 
itations, and  of  our  total  inability  to  resist  or  avert 
them  ;  but  the  beauty  and  benefactions  of  his  vegetable 
creations,  —  the  flowers  and  the  fruits  more  especially, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      161 

—  remind  and  assure  us  of  his  unforgetting  care,  of  his 
eondcscendiug  sympathy,  of  his  paternal  attentions, 
and  of  the  same  affectionate  benignity  still  actuating 
his  mind,  which  must  have  influenced  it  to  design  and 
execute  such  lovely  and  benevolent  productions,  that 
display  the  minutest  thought,  most  elaborate  composi- 
tions, and  so  much  personal  kindness. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 

We  now  come  to  that  grand  division  of  organized 
nature  which  presents  us  with  an  almost  infinite  variety 
of  beings  which  live,  move,  and  feel.  These  are  ar- 
ranged by  naturalists  under  two  divisions,  namely,  the 
Vertebrata,  —  those  which  have  interior  bony  skele- 
tons, and  including  quadrupeds,  birds,  fishes,  and  rep- 
tiles,—  and  Invertebrata,  including  those  which  have 
no  internal  skeleton,  such  as  shell-fishes  of  all  kinds, 
every  variety  of  insects,  the  gelatinous  animals  of  the 
sea,  as  polypi,  and  the  five-fingered  jack,  the  infusoria,' 
&c.  These  are  again  classed  under  different  heads,* 
according  to  certain  peculiarities.  In  the  following 
sketch,  we  propose  only  to  give  a  view  of  some  of  the 
most  striking  traits  of  the  leading   animal  tribes. 

General  Characteristics  of  Quadrupeds.  —  Lin- 
naeus distinguished  the  quadrupeds  of  the  earth  into 
six  orders,  and  added  another  for  the  cetaceous  fishes, 

*For  a  classification  of  animals,  see  "  Illustrative  AnecdotCB 
of  the  Animal  Kingdom." 

11         14* 


162     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THK  EARTH. 

giving  them  the  general  title  of  Mammalia,  as  they 
have  all  been  created  with  the  peculiar  habit  of  matur- 
ing their  offsj)ring  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  human 
race.  These  seven  orders,  subdivided  into  forty-eight 
genera,  include  above  eight  hundred  species.  The 
characters  of  the  orders  were  taken  by  Linnaeus  from 
the  number,  situation,  and  structure  of  the  teeth :  the 
arrangement  of  Cuvier,  now  generally  adopted,  is 
founded  upon  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  body. 

That  animals  *  have  organs  of  sense  corresponding 
with  those  of  man,  we  all  familiarly  know.  They  see, 
hear,  taste,  smell,  and  feel,  as  well  as  we  do,  and  some 
much  more  acutely.  Both  the  dog  and  the  wolf  have 
an  exquisite  sense  of  smell ;  the  cat,  and  some  others, 
can  see  in  the  dark ;  the  lynx  is  acute  both  in  sight 
and  smell ;  the  raccoon  is  peculiarly  sensitive  in  both 
smell  and  touch.  Others  have  a  quickness  of  hearing 
superior  to  ourselves  ;  and  some  appear  to  be  impressi- 
ble by  musical  sounds.  In  the  evolution  of  the  animal 
embryo,  the  formation  of  its  nervous  system  appears  to 
precede  its  circuiatory  functions  and  fluid.  Some 
curious  experiments  seem  to  show  that  the  principle 
of  life  is  independent  of  the  nervous  matter,  as  it  con- 
tinues in  the  body  of  some  species  for  some  time  after 
the  brain  and  spinal  marrow  are  removed. 

All  the  quadrupeds  utter  sounds  of  some  sort  or 
other,  which  they  can  vary  into  so  many  tones  as  are 
necessary  to  give  vent  to  their  feelings,  to  denote  their 
warns,  or  to  communicate  with  each  other.     Whoever 


*  We  copy  ihc  greater  part  of  tliis  article,  also,  from  Turner'a 
"Sacred  History  of  the  World  " 


REOGRAPIIICAL    VIKW    OF     THE    KARTII.  163 

attends  to  tlic  poultry-yard  will  soon  perceive  that 
each  species  uses  particular  modifications  of  sound,  to 
signify  to  their  brood  and  fellows  what  they  wish  them 
to  understand,  and  each  seems  perfectly  to  compi-ehend 
the  meaning  of  the  speaker.  Many  animals  have  been 
remarked  for  their  communications,  by  utterance,  to 
each  other.  The  sloth,  in  the  modifications  of  its 
plaintive  cry,  ascends  and  descends  regularly  through 
six  musical  notes  ;  one  monkey  has  been  noticed  to 
utter  vocal  syllables  ;  and  dogs  have  been  taught  to 
express  human  w-ords,  even  so  large  a  number  as  thirty, 
intelligibly.  The  monkey  tribe  give  strong  indications 
of  mutual  communication  and  comprehension  by  their 
vocal  utterance. 

It  is  one  of  the  great  distinctions  of  the  animal  mind, 
and  of  its  similarity,  within  its  prescribed  scale  and 
compass,  to  our  own,  that  it  is -both  teachable  to  several 
intelligent  actions,  and  also  susceptive  of  moral  docil- 
ity. Thus  far  it  is  improvable,  but  not  beyond.  By 
this  limitation,  it  is  divided  from  the  human  soul,  of 
which  an  indefinite  and  unceasing  improvability  is  its 
universal  property,  though  the  largest  part  of  mankind 
but  little  avail  themselves  of  it.  But  that  degree  of 
moral  ductility  and  capacity  of  education  which  taming 
exhibits  seems  to  be  a  general  quality  of  the  animal 
mind,  as  the  fiercest  have  been  subjected  to  it.  Of  the 
Ferae  genera,  which  includes  all  the  wild  and  ferocious, 
the  largest  have  been  found  tamable.  Even  the  tiger, 
who  may  be  considered  as  the  fiercest  of  the  fierce, 
has  exhibited  this  improvability  ;  so  has  the  savage  and 
voracious  hyena  ;  crocodiles  have  been  made  liarmless 
and  docile,  and   the   leopard  likewise  ;   the  wolf  has 


164  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

also  shown  that  it  possesses  what  we  may  term  affec 
tionate  docilities ;  the  baboons  become  vigilant  guar- 
dians of  their  protectors'  property.  These  facts  prove 
that  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  wildest  an- 
imals to  make  their  gentleness  and  sociability  either 
impossible  or  improbable.  We  see  by  the  dog  and 
cat  that  the  carnivorous  may  be  mild  and  friendly ; 
as  we  find  those  which  feed  on  gi-ass  and  herbs  may 
be  wild.  Even  now  the  devourers  and  their  prey  may, 
by  kind  and  judicious  management,  be  trained  to  live 
peaceably  and  harmlessly  together.  Nothing  appears 
more  effectual  to  produce  this  pleasing  melioration  than 
patient  and  persevering  kind  and  gentle  treatment. 
They  are  now  wild  and  savage,  from  the  appointed  cir- 
cumstances amid  which  they  are  at  present  ordained  to 
live  ;  and  when  this  state  of  the  general  world  shall  be 
altered,  their  moral  transformation  will  become  a  nat- 
ural appendage  to  the  great  social  and  intellectual  rev- 
olution which  the  Hebrew  prophets  attach  to  the  ulterior 
ages.  It  is  in  quadrupeds  as  in  fish,  —  the  largest  are 
the  mildest.  The  vast  hippopotamus,  the  rhinoceros, 
and  the  elephant,  are  as  gentle  and  harmless  as  the 
sturgeon  and  the  whale. 

That  animals  have  feelings  and  passions  veiy  anal- 
ogous to  our  own  appears  from  many  instances.  Our 
rugged  or  oppressive  conduct  towards  them  more  usu- 
ally puts  their  resentful  emotions  into  action  than  their 
better  capabilities  ;  and  this  has  caused  their  angry  hu- 
mors to  be  most  frequently  noticed.  But  many  species 
show  what  must  be  called  kind  affections.  Monkeys 
display  them  toward  each  other.  Cows  will  protect 
each  other,  and  feel  strongly  for  their  young.    Most  an- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH,     165 

imals  evince  pleasure  at  being  caressed.  Bears  have  ex- 
hibited strongly  both  connubial  and  maternal  sensibil- 
ities. The  beaver  has  felt  or  imitated  them.  Lions 
also  discover  the  same  sympathies  to  be  within  them. 
So  have  the  unmanageable  elks.  The  apes  and  orang- 
outangs have  repeatedly  indicated  affectionate  sympa- 
thies. Even  the  hog  we  despise  is  not  destitute  of 
them ;  it  is  peculiarly  sensitive  of  weather,  and  nat- 
urally select  in  its  food.  But  all  classes  of  animals, 
from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  have  given  striking  de- 
monstrations that  their  mental  principle  has  these 
moral  sensibilities  as  truly  as  the  superior  human  spirit. 

From  a  consideration  of  these  traits  in  quadrupeds, 
let  us  pass  to  the  consideration  of  their  indications  of 
a  perceiving,  attending,  and  thinking  mind. 

To  collect  provisions  for  their  future  use,  to  hoard 
them  in  safe  places,  and  to  use  them  gradually  for  their 
daily  sustenance,  are  actions  in  the  human  race  which 
display  and  require  great  prudence,  foresight,  just  rea- 
soning, will  acting  upon  judgment,  and  much  self-com- 
mand. A  very  large  portion  of  mankind  will  not 
exert  either  this  forethought,  or  the  self-government 
that  alone  makes  it  effectual.  .  The  Scottish  nation 
may  be  cited  as  an  example  of  the  former  qualities, 
while  the  lower  Irish  are  too  often  conspicuous  for  the 
want  of  them.  Yet  they  are  strikingly  exhibited  in 
the  Alpine  hares,  who  literally  make  hay  for  their 
winter  food  ;  in  the  active  and  provident  squirrels ; 
in  the  ingenious  beaver ;  and  by  many  of  the  Glires 
genus. 

The  tuition  v.hich  quadrupeds  arc  capable  of  receiv- 
ing discovers   a   lower  degree    of  that   improvability 


166  GEOUKAPIIICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

which  distinguishes  our  superior  race,  which,  as  far  as 
it  extends,  resembles  ours,  although  at  the  same  time 
it  marks  its  specific  difference  by  its  unvarying  hmita- 
tion.  Apes  have  often  amused  their  possessors  by  their 
imitative  faculty.  Cats  display  this  teachability.  Pigs 
have  also  repeatedly  shown  that  they  can  learn  to  do 
things  not  natural  to  them.  A  sow  has  been  trained  to 
the  services  of  a  pointer. 

The  quadruped  animals,  of  their  own  will  and  na- 
ture, and  from  inborn  instincts,  do  actions  which  re- 
quire knowledge,  reasoning,  and  judgment  in  mankind. 
Reindeers  follow  and  obey  leaders  of  their  own  spe- 
cies. Elephants  also  make  their  journeys  on  this  plan, 
when  they  deem  it  necessary.  Baboons  have  been 
found  to  make  defensive  arrangements,  resembling  mil- 
itary tactics.  Mules  and  cats  make  signals  to  have  a  door 
opened.  Bisons  place  themselves  in  the  best  position 
for  repelling  an  enemy.  The  black  bear's  mode  of 
fishing  is  as  dexterous  as  any  schoolboy's  could  be,  but 
more  patient  than  he  would  be.  Even  the  selfish  dep- 
redation of  the  monkey,  too  craving  of  others'  food  to 
be  sufficiently  careful  of  his  own,  was  an  intellectual 
action.  All  these  display  what  many  human  beings 
would  do  in  the  same  circumstances,  and  for  the  same 
ends. 

Deliberating,  judging,  and  persevering  mind,  with 
real  building  skill,  appears  as  much  in  the  beaver's 
construction  of  his  cabin,  as  in  any  human  fabrication 
of  a  cottage.  The  curiosity  of  a  petted  weasel  resem- 
bled the  same  quality  in  its  mistress.  If  it  be  foresee- 
ing caution  in  a  military  officer  to  place  sentinels  to 
watch  and  give  alarm  on  danger,  is  it  any  other  quality 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      167 

in  animals  who  use  the  same  prcc  aution  ?  Marmots  do 
this.  So  do  the  baboons  and  monlveys  of  Africa ;  the 
wild  asses  likewise,  and  many  other  classes.  If  the  as- 
sembling in  societies  occurs  among  mankind  from  a 
sense  of  mutual  wants,  safety,  and  benefit,  and  from 
sympathies  that  we  term  moral,  must  there  not  be  some 
feelings  or  notions  analogous  to  these  in  those  species 
of  quadrupeds  who  voluntarily  associate  together  .''  The 
social  mouse  is  a  pleasing  instance  of  these  sensibilities  ; 
they  pair,  form  families,  and  live  together  as  neigh- 
bours. The  beavers  unite,  from  a  distance,  into  socie- 
ties, for  the  express  purpose  of  building  their  habita- 
tions in  vicinity  to  each  other,  and  cooperate  in  their 
labor,  like  Dido's  followers  in  the  Virgilian  picture  of 
their  founding  Carthage,  or  like  emigrants  into  our 
western  wilds,  to  build  their  log-houses  and  forest 
towns.  The  marmots  as  assiduously  join  their  skill 
and  industry  together  to  form  their  social  rooms,  as 
any  body  of  bricklayers  and  carpenters  to  raise  the  ed- 
ifices they  construct.  Several  other  species  of  animals 
also  shape  their  habitations  by  concurring  labor. 

All  the  instances  which  occur,  in  these  classes  of 
beings,  of  cooperating  action  for  some  common  end, 
show  the  intention  and  the  desire  to  unite  their  cfTorts 
for  that  purpose,  and,  therefore,  a  mind,  or  a  meaning 
and  thinking  power,  that  designs,  perceives,  compre- 
hends, wills,  and  operates  to  produce  it.  Individual 
instances  of  what  in  human  beings  we  should  call  con- 
triving mind  have  been  remarked  in  animals.  The 
squirrel's  mode  of  passing  a  river,  —  the  jerboa's  pro- 
vision for  his  escape  if  attacked  in  his  retreat,  —  the 
opossum's  mode  of  obtaining  crabs  which   his  paws 


168  GEOGIIAPHICAT.    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

cannot  reach,  —  the  monkey's  use  of  his  tail  as  a  hand 
or  finger,  —  the  Peruvian  hare's  two  chambers  for  dis- 
tinct uses, —  the  otter's  providing  against  the  rise  of 
the  tide  or  river,  —  the  honey-weasel's  averting  the 
glare  of  the  sun,  —  the  monkey's  imitation  of  the  as- 
tronomers who  were  measuring  the  length  of  a  degree 
in  Peru,  —  the  Indian  monkey's  resolute  mode  of  self- 
defence, —  the  bear  himself  finding  out  the  plant  that 
will  heal  his  wound,  and  making  and  applying  a  plas- 
ter from  it, —  the  wolf's  cautious  reasoning  amid  his 
hunger  and  voracity,  —  are  instances  of  this  sort.  The 
wolf,  with  artful  judgment,  will  take  the  babe  from  the 
mother's  bed  so  gently  as  not  to  disturb  her.  Wolves 
also  resolutely  cooperate  in  their  fatal  attacks.  To 
know  the  names  which  have  been  given  to  them  by 
their  owners,  and  to  come,  when  these  are  pronounced, 
to  those  who  so  call  them,  imply  in  animals  memory,  a 
connection  of  sounds  with  ideas  and  actions,  and  an 
obeying  will.  The  attention  of  some  to  music,  which 
we  have  already  alluded  to,  has  a  claim  to  be  called  an 
intellectual  sensibility.  So  has  the  impression  which 
some  receive  from  the  menacing  features  of  the  human 
face.  The  actions  of  the  elephant  and  of  the  dog, 
which  resemble  those  of  thinking  intellect,  are  very 
striking ;  but  are  so  familiarly  known,  and  have  been 
so  often  described,  that  we  need  only  recommend 
them  to  notice  as  very  instructive  testimonies  of 
the  nature  and  operations  of  the  animal  mind.  The 
orang-outangs,  likewise,  Avhich  come  near  to  us  in 
form,  at  times  evince  some  faculties  and  actions  so  anal- 
ogous to  our  own,  as  to  be  only  distinguished  by  the 
insurpassable  limitation  which  appears  always  attached 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      169 

to  them.  But  all  the  Simla  tribes  are  confined  to  their 
native  inferiority  to  us,  and  to  their  discordances  from 
us,  inflexibly  and  unalterably,  in  their  minds  as  in 
their  bodies.  No  time,  and  no  arts,  and  no  habit,  can 
convert  the  baboon  figure,  features,  or  skin,  into  the 
feminine  face  and  form  which  we  love,  or  into  the 
manly  presence  and  body  we  admire ;  nor  his  imper- 
fect mind  into  our  capacities  and  sensibilities.  What 
these  tribes  are  they  can  only  be  for  all  succeeding  ages 
in  which  they  may  exist.  No  brute  animals  of  any  kind, 
in  any  chronology  of  their  being,  have  been  found  to 
possess  the  expanding  and  increasing  improvability 
of  the  human  soul.  It  is  this  quality,  never  extin- 
guished or  extinguishable,  though  often  dormant,  which 
proclaims  our  spirit  to  be  born  for  immortality  ;  as  the 
want  of  it  makes  it  probable  that  their  vital  principle 
in  all  other  material  organizations,  at  least  in  their 
present  forms  and  phenomena,  is  not  intended  to  be 
perpetuated  hereafter. 

General  Remarks  on  Reptiles. — The  Creator 
has  made  nothing  that  is  unuseful,  nothing  so  insulated 
as  to  have  no  relations  with  any  thing  else,  —  nothing 
which  is  not  serviceable  or  instrumental  to  other  pur- 
poses besides  its  own  existence,  —  nothing  that  is  not 
to  be  applicable  or  convertible  to  the  benefit  of  his  sen- 
tient creatures,  in  some  respect  or  other.  The  miner- 
al has  a  connection  of  this  sort  with  both  the  vege- 
table and  animal  kingdoms,  and  these  with  each  other. 
The  same  principle  has  been  pursued  throughout  the 
animated  classes  of  nature.  No  one  species  of  living 
being  has  been  formed  only  for  itself,  or  can  subsist 
m  absolute  uselessness  to  others.  This  is  one  grand 
XX. — 15 


170     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

purpose  for  causing  so  many  races  of  animal  being  to 
subsist  on  each  other.  By  this  system,  each  enjoys 
the  gift  of  hfe,  and  each  is  made  to  contribute,  by  the 
termination  of  that  gift,  to  the  well-being  of  others. 
Fishes  are  thus  useful  to  each  other,  to  many  birds, 
to  some  animals,  and  to  man.  Birds  have  their  period 
of  happiness  for  themselves,  and  are  sei'viceable  to 
others  of  their  kind,  and  to  man  and  to  some  quadru- 
peds, in  their  mode  of  death,  instead  of  mouldering 
through  corruption  into  their  material  dissolution. 
Quadi'upeds  have  the  same  double  use  in  their  exis- 
tence ;  their  own  enjoyment,  and  the  benefit  at  their 
death  to  those  of  their  own  order,  and  to  the  birds  and 
reptiles,  worms  and  insects,  that  have  been  appointed 
to  derive  nutrition  from  their  substance.  All  the  king- 
doms of  nature  have  been  likewise  so  constructed  as 
to  be  beneficial  to  the  human  race,  not  as  nutriment 
only,  but  in  the  thousand  conveniences  to  which  they 
are  convertible.  Even  the  amphibious  order  of  na- 
ture is  no  exception  to  these  general  results.  Its  vari- 
ous genera  contribute  their  proportion  to  the  common 
stock  of  mutual  utilities.  They  have  their  own  grati- 
fication from  their  personal  existence  ;  they  contribute 
by  their  substance  to  the  maintenance  of  others  of 
their  fellow-creatures ;  and  some  of  their  genera  serve 
to  multiply  the  conveniences  and  pleasures  of  man. 
He  derives  advantages  from  all  that  exists,  in  as  much 
larger  a  degree  to  any  other  animal,  as  he  is  supe- 
rior to  any  in  his  intellectual  exertions  and  universal 
capacity. 

The   first  order,  the  tortoise  genera,  are  the   most 
immediately  serviceable  to   mankind.     The   flesh  of 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEAV    OF    THE    EARTH.  171 

the  sca-tui-tle  is  both  a  vakied  delicacy  and  a  useful 
medicine ;  and  the  shell  of  one  species  furnishes  socie- 
ty with  that  rich  and  beautiful  material  which  forms 
our  tortoise-shell  ornaments  and  conveniences.  It  is  a 
gentle  and  harmless  animal,  without  any  means  of 
hurting  others.  Its  protecting  shell  forms  both  its 
house  and  its  armor,  and  enables  it  to  defend  itself 
by  a  patient  and  passive  resistance,  without  disturb- 
ing its  natural  mildness  of  temper. 

The  land-tortoise  has  the  same  gentle  and  peace- 
able manners.  It  can  live  without  food,  and  probably 
does  so,  like  many  if  not  most  of  the  fish,  except  at 
certain  periods.  It  enjoys  a  great  length  of  life,  and 
has  its  living  principle  so  essentially  within  its  body, 
that  it  can  subsist  and  move  without  either  brain  or 
head.  This  class  of  animals  were  thus  made  to  be  in 
the  waters,  what  the  sheep  are  on  the  hills  and  plains, 
—  harmless,  gentle,  patient,  and  useful;  one  of  the 
most  pleasing  forms  of  character  of  all  animated 
being;  the  truest  representative  and  surest  producer 
of  personal  and  social  happiness. 

Passing  over  the  formidable  crocodiles,  and  other 
species  of  lizards,  only  remarking  that  these,  too,  have 
their  interesting  qualities,  we  may  notice  the  toad, 
generally  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  repulsive  forms 
of  animal  existence.  Yet  even  specimens  of  these  have 
been  domesticated.  One  is  known  to  have  become 
familiar  in  a  house  for  thirty-six  years,  and  welcomed 
that  light  which,  in  its  natural  state,  is  offensive  to 
it.  It  displayed  here  as  much  original  mind  as  any 
other  quadruped,  and  was  never  offensive.  This  fact 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  living  principle  of  the  toad 


172      GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

race  has  the  same  susceptibility,  memory,  will,  per- 
ception, suitable  judgment,  and  limited  improvability 
as  every  class  of  animated  nature  seems  to  exhibit. 

General  Remarks  on  Birds.  —  A  new  system  of 
exterior  figure,  and  a  new  species  of  beauty,  in 
the  three  main  sources  of  the  beautiful  in  material 
things,  and  to  the  surveying  eye, —  form,  motion, 
and  color,  —  arose  to  visible  existence  in  the  feath- 
ered creation.  From  the  same  causes  of  agreeable 
emotions,  the  fish  excite  pleasurable  sensations  in  those 
who  gaze  upon  their  placid  activity  in  the  calm  and 
clear  ocean.  And  these  feelings  arise  also  within 
us  as  we  handle  the  shells  of  the  testacea,  which  are 
always  so  neat  in  figure,  polish,  hues,  and  complete- 
ness, and  often  impressively  interesting  in  their  most 
lovely  tints  and  more  elegant  shapes ;  all  announcing 
the  refined  taste  and  minute  execution  of  their  invisible 
Designer.  But  the  birds  eminently  surpass  all  the  ma- 
rine classes  in  their  appeals  to  our  sense  of  beauty  in 
their  attractive  appearance.  Form,  motion,  finish,  and 
color  are  the  elements  of  what  is  beautcus  in  both 
orders  of  being ;  but  the  lovely  and  the  pleasing  emanate 
to  us  from  the  sprightly  tenants  of  the  trees  and  air 
with  more  interesting  efiect  than  from  the  inhabitants 
of  the  seas. 

The  plumage  of  birds  is  peculiar  to  their  order  of 
creation,  and  is  always  a  pleasurable  object  both  to 
sight  and  touch,  and  remarkable  for  the  skill  and  dcH- 
cacy  of  its  composition  and  structure.  In  the  equa- 
torial regions  it  is  more  rich  and  splendid  in  its  colors, 
yet  always  harmonizing  in  its  most  contrasted  tints, 
and  in  its  lights  and  shades.     The  eflect  is  sometimes 


GEOGUArinC.\L    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  173 

(Torgeous,  l)\it  never  tawdry.  In  all  its  combinations 
and  lustres  it  gratifies  the  cultivated  taste,  and,  when 
extensively  studied,  enlarges  the  conceptions  of  the 
imagination  by  its  elaborate  divereity. 

The  birds  of  song  abound  in  every  known  country; 
in  the  new  continent  as  much  as  in  the  older  or  longer 
mhabited  one.  But  as  they  are  seldom  found  in  the 
depth  of  the  dense  and  damp  forests  of  any  climate, 
they  are  the  more  usual  companions  of  civilized  man. 
They  frequent  most  the  cleared  and  cultivated  plains, 
as  if  by  kind  appointment  to  increase  the  number  of 
human  pleasures,  by  warbling  their  own  feelings  and 
happiness  in  those  melodies  which  delight  the  human 
ear  as  much  as  themselves.  Neither  childhood  nor 
manhood  can  hear  them  with  indifference.  Their 
notes  are  everywhere  a  large  addition  to  human  grati- 
fication, and  become  connected  with  the  sweetest  re- 
membrances of  the  most  joyous  and  impressible  season 
of  our  life.  They  are  usually  small  birds,  and  seem 
to  be  indestructible;  for  although  cultivation,  as  it 
spreads,  drives  off  many  other  species,  yet  by  supply- 
ing these  with  more  of  the  food  they  like  best,  they 
multiply  from  its  abundance ;  and  wherever  gardens, 
fields,  or  trees  appear,  some  classes  of  these  rural 
musicians  are  sure  to  be  part  of  their  feathered  in- 
habitants. 

Birds  are  distinguished  from  all  other  animals  by 
their  power  of  supporting  such  a  weight  as  their  bodies 
in  a  medium  so  light  as  air ;  and  from  which,  by  the 
laws  of  gravity  alone,  they  would  fall  downwards  like 
a  stone,  the  instant  they  left  their  twig.  Here,  the 
most  special  and  scientific  calculation,  with  a  specific 
15* 


174     GEOGHAPniCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

adaptation,  become  manifest  to  our  consideration.  No 
blind  force  {  v  random  power  or  motion  could  have  here 
availed.  A  deliberating  and  knowing  mind  must  have 
been  their  creator,  combining  what  we  term  mathemati- 
cal and  mechanical  science.  The  bodies  of  every  species 
of  birds  differ  in  weight  and  bulk.  But  in  order  that  they 
may  fly,  and  remain  suspended  in  the  air  while  they  do 
so,  the  motive  energies  of  each  must  be  precisely  pro- 
portioned to  the  two  things  so  very  dissimilar, — to  the 
sravity  of  his  individual  substance,  and  to  the  tenuity  of 
the  air  through  which  he  must  glide  and  float.  No  gen- 
eral fitness  would  do  ;  each  distinct  kind  must  have  had 
alloted  to  it  a  different  degree,  peculiar  to  itself,  and 
exactly  adjusted  to  the  spread  of  its  own  frame,  and 
to  its  gravitating  tendcnc)^  These  suited  proportions 
must  not  only  have  been  discerned  and  appointed  to 
every  one  at  its  creation,  but,  as  earthly  races  are 
perpetuated  from  parents,  the  foreseeing  Power  had 
also  to  form  and  regulate  the  oval  embryos  of  every 
species,  so  as  that  each  should  continually  reproduce 
the  same  adapted  fitness  of  motive  force,  weight,  and 
bulk.  Such  a  patient  condescension  of  Almighty 
Power  and  Intelligence,  deigning  to  apply  so  much 
tliought  and  kind  efiicicncy  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
a  multifarious  variety  to  its  creation,  is  far  beyond  our 
conception  or  panegyric. 

Birds  surpass  all  other  animals  in  the  faculty  of  con- 
tinuing their  motion  without  resting,  as  well  as  in  its 
rapidity.  The  fleetest  courser  can  scarcely  ever  run 
more  than  a  mile  in  a  minute,  nor  support  that  speed 
beyond  five  or  six  of  such  exertions.  But  the  swallow 
does  tills  for  pleasure,  for  ten  hours  a  day  ;  and  so  can 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      175 

the  blue-bird  of  America,  for  a  space  of  six  rmndred 
miles,  in  the  stages  of  his  journey  from  Mexico  to  the 
territory  of  the  United  Stales.  The  passenger  pigeons 
move  with  even  greater  celerity  from  one  part  of  our 
continent  to  anothei".  The  golden  eagle  is  supposed 
to  dart  through  the  fiercest  storm  at  the  rate  of  forty 
miles  an  hour ;  but  one  of  our  smallest  birds,  the  swift, 
can  even  quadruple  the  most  excited  quickness  of  the 
race-horse  for  a  distance,  and  therefore  with  a  con- 
tinuity of  exertion  hardly  within  the  bounds  of  our 
reasonable  belief. 

One  of  the  most  special  appointments  of  the  Crea- 
tor as  to  birds,  and  which  nothing  but  his  chosen  de- 
sign and  corresponding  ordainment  can  explain,  is 
the  law,  that  so  many  kinds  shall  migrate  from  one 
country  to  another,  and  most  commonly  at  vast  dis- 
tances from  each  other.  They  might  have  been  all 
framed  to  breed,  be  born,  live,  and  die  in  the  same 
region,  as  occurs  to  some,  and  as  quadrupeds  and  in- 
sects do.  But  he  has  chosen  to  make  them  travel 
from  one  climate  to  another,  with  unerring  precision, 
from  an  irresistible  instinct,  with  a  wonderful  courage, 
with  an  untiring  mobility,  and  in  a  right  and  never- 
failing  direction.  For  this  pui'pose,  they  cross  oceans 
without  fear,  'and  with  a  persevering  exertion  that 
makes  our  most  exhausting  labors  a  comparative 
amusement.  Philosophy  in  vain  endeavours  to  ac 
count  for  the  extraordinary  phenomenon.  It  canno 
discover  any  adequate  physical  reason.  Warmer  tem 
peratures  are  not  essentially  necessary  to  incubation 
nor  always  the  object  of  the  emigration ;  for  the  snow 
bunting,  though  a  bird  of  song,  goes  into  the  frozei 


176  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH, 

zone  to  breed,  lay,  and  nurture  its  young.  The  snow- 
bird has  the  same  taste  or  constitution  for  the  chill- 
ing weather,  which  the  majority  recede  from.  We 
can  only  resolve  all  these  astonishing  journeys  into  the 
appointment  of  the  Creator,  who  has  assigned  to  every 
bird  the  habits,  as  well  as  the  form,  which  it  was  his 
good  pleasure  to  imagine  and  to  attach  to  it.  The 
watchful  naturalist  may  hear,  if  not  see,  several  migra- 
tions of  those  birds  which  frequent  our  country,  both  to 
and  fro,  as  spring  advances  and  as  autumn  declines ; 
but  as  they  take  place  chiefly  in  the  night  or  at  an  early 
dawn,  and  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere, 
they  are  much  oftener  audible  than  visible  to  us  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth. 

The  quantity  of  individuals  of  the  various  bird 
genera,  which  are  at  any  one  time  and  at  all  times 
existing  in  our  world,  surpasses  not  only  our  usual 
supposition,  but  even  all  power  of  human  numeration, 
at  least  as  to  any  real,  distinct  conception  of  the 
amount ;  for  we  can  only  pen  down  the  words  millions, 
billions,  trillions,  quadrillions,  and  such  other  augment- 
ative terms,  in  which  all  actual  comprehension  soon 
becomes  lost  in  mere  verbal  sounds  and  confusing  ob- 
scurity. 

The  birds  are  a  race  of  organized  beings,  as  happy 
as  they  arc  beautiful  :  their  greatest  number  are  peace- 
ful, friendly,  social,  innocent,  and  contented.  The  ra- 
pacious class,  and  some  of  the  aquatic  species,  present 
a  predatory  anomaly ;  but  the  exuberant  multitudes 
of  their  most  prolific  classes  are  of  a  kind,  :  armless, 
active,  and  neighbourly  character.  They  seem  to  have 
a  pleasure  in  being  together  in  some  mode  or  other. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH,      177 

It  is  very  interesting  to  observe  the  social  and  family 
feelings  of  many  species.  The  rural  naturalist  lias 
pleasingly  described  several  instances  of  what  resem- 
bles the  conduct  to  which,  among  mankind,  we  annex 
the  terms  attachment  and  affection.  Nor  are  these 
feelings  confined  to  the  milder  birds.  Even  vultures 
are  gregarious,  and  exhibit  pleasure  in  each  other's 
society. 

To  delineate  the  instincts,  the  feelings,  and  habits  of 
the  feathered  kingdom  is  beyond  our  present  limits. 
There  is  as  much  of  what  resembles  intellectual  sensi- 
bilities and  reasoning,  will,  and  judgment,  in  them,  as 
in  any  genus  of  fish  or  quadi-upeds.  They  seem  to  do 
all  the  things  they  ought ;  and  to  act  with  what  may 
be  called  a  steady  common-sense  in  their  respective 
situations.  We  have  never  seen  a  bird  do  a  foolish 
thing,  for  a  creature  of  their  powers,  frame,  and  or- 
gans, and  in  their  state.  Each  acts  with  a  uniform 
propriety ;  nothing  fantastic,  absurd,  inconsistent,  mani- 
acal, or  contradictory  appears  in  their  simple  habits  or 
daily  conduct.  They  seem  to  ~  have  mental  faculties 
and  feelings  like  ours,  up  to  a  certain  extent ;  but  to  that 
they  are  limited.  They  have  not  the  universality,  the 
diversifying  capacity,  nor  the  improvability  of  the  hu- 
man intellect.  The  bird  mind  is  the  same  bird  mind 
from  generation  to  generation.  The  nightingale  is 
now  what  the  nightingale  was  four  and  six  thousand 
years  ago,  —  nothing  less,  nothing  more.  The  eagle 
is  as  incapable  of  advancement  as  the  sparrow.  The 
common  fowl,  which  is  found  in  all  regions  and  cli- 
mates of  the  globe,  is  in  each  one  exactly  alike  in  its 
functions,  faculties,  and  habits.  The  song-birds  warble 
12 


178  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

now  just  as  they  have  done  ever  since  human  history 
has  noticed  them.  It  is  this  confining  identity  which 
separates  birds  and  all  animals  so  widely  from  man. 
They  never  improve  ;  while  his  capability  of  progres- 
sion is  as  yet  illimitable,  and  may  perhaps  ever  be  so. 

The  bird  mind,  although  limited,  displays  all  the 
common  faculties  of  animal  intellect.  Its  memory  is 
tenacious.  The  bulfinch  never  forgets  the  songs  he 
has  learned,  though  placed  amid  many  others  with  dif- 
ferent melodies.  Most  of  the  singing-birds  may  be 
taught  the  notes  of  others,  and  to  pipe  and  whistle  as 
their  instructor  pleases.  Their  aptness  to  acquire  little 
acts  of  exhibition  shows  attention,  comprehension,  do- 
cility, and  recollection.  Some  exhibit  a  taste  for  the 
little  gratifications  of  human  vanity  ;  others,  a  sponta- 
neous intellectual  observation  and  perception  of  the 
intention  of  human  actions.  Even  the  highly  mental 
emotion  of  emulation  is  visible  among  them.  The 
perception  that  their  eggs  in  hatching  should  have  a 
proper  degree  of  heat,  and  the  alternate  movement  of 
them  for  that  purpose,  display  both  a  right  reasoning 
and  acting  rightly  on  it.  Nor  are  they  sometimes  des- 
titute of  animal  or  human  pugnacity.  We  expect  this 
in  the  game  birds  that  can  be  trained  to  it ;  but  even 
the  more  gentle  and  peaceable  can  sometimes  exert  a 
petulant  irritability.  But  it  is  in  their  nests  that  they 
display  the  most  striking  and  varied  indications  of  con- 
triving and  judging,  and  therefore  of  thinking  intellect, 
confined,  indeed,  in  the  extent  of  its  operations,  but  re- 
sembling reasoning  intellect  within  this  compass.  Their 
affection  for  their  young,  their  anxious  contrivances  to 
protect  them,  and  little  stratagems  to  mislead  the  ma- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      179 

rauder  from  their  nests,  evince  feelings  and  mental 
activities  analogous  to  those   of  other  reasoning  beings. 

Remarks  on  Fishes.  —  Fishes,  hke  vegetables,  are 
in  several  natural  tribes,  very  distinguishable  from  each 
other,  although  all  residing  in  the  watery  element ;  but 
this  clement,  so  uniform  in  its  general  qualities,  has 
yet  several  peculiar  divisions ;  as  in  rivers,  lakes, 
marshes,  and  seas.  Its  greatest  distinction  is  that  of 
salt  water  in  its  oceanic  diffusions,  and  of  fresh  water  in 
its  terrestrial  distributions  ;  and  some  of  the  fish  are 
appi'opriated  to  each  of  these.  It  is,  however,  a  prevail- 
ing opinion,  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  fresh-water  fish 
originated  in  the  sea  ;  and  it  is  certain  that  many  which 
are  inhabitants  of  the  ocean  pass  from  it  into  the  rivers 
of  the  land,  to  breed  and  deposit  their  young;  and 
these  show  themselves  to  be  capable  of  living  alter- 
nately in  each. 

Fishes  have  been  made  to  differ  in  bulk,  according 
to  their  species ;  and  they  are  of  all  sizes  and  weights, 
from  the  minnow  to  the  whale.  After  the  latter,  the 
shark  takes  the  lead  in  dimensions,  as  it  is  from  one  to 
four  thousand  pounds  in  mass,  and  sometimes  thirty 
feet  long.  Others  are  of  great  bulk  without  much 
length.  But  in  their  general  nature,  the  other  kinds 
are  under  a  hundred  pounds.  Few  reach  fifty,  and 
most  are  under  twenty.  In  length,  there  are  not  many 
above  twenty  feet.  Few  attain  ten  feet.  The  largest 
number  are  less  than  three  ;  and  most,  not  even  half 
that  size. 

The  ocean  pervades  and  surrounds  the  whole  globe, 
and  is  so  permeable  to  that  projectile  force  which  the 
fishes  have  been  constructed  to  exert  without  fatigue, 


180      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

that  these  animals  have  facilities  for  rambling  as  they 
like  which  no  others  possess.  But,  notwithstanding 
their  native  power,  several  prefer  particular  localities. 
Some  wander  to  great  distances.  Others  are  confined 
to  inland  seas  and  lakes.  But  the  greater  part  move 
freely  and  variously  through  all  the  divisions  of  the 
oceanic  diffusion,  and  especially  those  which  sail  in 
large  shoals,  or  which  seek  the  rivers  or  the  shore  to 
prepare  and  deposit  their  spawn. 

Their  reproductive  system,  analogous  to  that  of 
plants  by  seeds,  is  oviparous  in  almost  all  ;  although 
some  species,  instead  of  eggs,  bring  forth  their  young 
alive.  But  the  great  majority  lay  their  oval  spawn ; 
and  some  with  a  fecundity  that  equals  the  most  mar- 
vellous abundance  of  vegetable  sporules  or  semina. 

It  is  the  appointed  law  with  many,  that  although 
among  the  general  inhabitants  of  the  sea,  yet  that  they 
should  be  born  in  river-water ;  and  that  for  this  pur- 
pose their  maternal  parents  should  travel  from  the 
ocean  to  the  fluvial  streams  of  the  land ;  and,  forcing 
their  way  in  opposition  to  the  descending  currents, 
glide  upwards  to  such  places  as  they  select  to  be  proper 
beds  for  their  future  progeny.  The  salmon  is  a  re- 
markable instance  of  this  selecting  and  persevering 
instinct.  The  salmon-trout,  smelt,  and  shad,  and  sev- 
eral others,  perform  similar  journeys.  Others  sail  in 
vast  shoals  to  the  coasts  of  different  countries  for  the 
same  purpose  of  depositing  their  eggs  along  the  suitable 
banks  and  shores.  All  are  solicitous  and  careful  to 
discharge  them  in  the  safest  places  that  will  promote 
their  future  vivification  ;  but  here  their  parental  in- 
stinct ends :   after  this  care  they  leave  them  to  the 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      181 

Other  agencies  of  nature  to  mature.  But  the  young 
fry  need  no  further  attention.  At  the  proper  time,  va- 
rying in  each  species,  they  emerge  from  their  oval 
abode,  and  immediately  move  about  with  great  agility, 
and  apparently  in  the  full  possession  of  their  appointed 
faculties.  Their  wants  are  so  few,  and  the  supply  so 
immediate,  that  as  soon  as  they  come  into  sentient  be- 
ing they  have  about  them  all  that  they  require.  They 
need  no  parental  nutrition.  A  mother,  in  their  element, 
could  not  do  more  for  them  than  to  provide  a  proper 
birthplace  for  them  ;  and  every  maternal  fish  performs 
this  office  by  moving  to  the  right  station  with  the  in- 
stinctive accuracy  which  resembles  selecting  judgment. 
Exclusive  of  figure,  the  largest  number  of  the  fish 
tribes  are  very  agreeable  objects  to  our  sight ;  and 
many  eminently  beautiful  in  their  colors,  and  in  the 
general  appearance  of  their  neat  and  glossy  skin  and 
scales.  Though  dwelling  in  a  watery  medium,  yet  the 
marvellous  light,  from  whose  component  rays  all  beau- 
ty of  color  and  splendor  proceed,  often  richly  com- 
bines its  adorning  beams  in  their  exterior  surface  ;  and 
emanates  from  them,  by  some  inexplicable  process,  its 
softest  and  sweetest  brilliance.  Our  commonest  fish 
are  often  highly  pleasing.  Several  have  a  golden  hue, 
or  spots,  difficult  to  account  for ;  and  many,  a  silvery 
gloss,  as  though  particles  of  these  two  metals  were  dif- 
fused among  their  skin.  Others  display  a  fine  tinge  of 
blue ;  some,  very  pleasing  tints  of  green.  Delicate 
gradations  or  diffusions  of  other  colors  make  other  spe- 
cies interesting  to  us.  The  effect  of  the  whole  is,  that 
the  general  appearance  of  the  fish  creation,  in  their 
forms,  colors,  brilliancy,  gliding  movement,  rapid  and 
XX.— 16 


182     GEOGRAPHICAL  TJSW  OF  THE  EAETH. 

changeful  activity,  and  universal  animation  and  vigor, 
excites  sentiments  of  pleasure  and  admiration  in  every 
reflecting  mind  that  beholds  them,  in  their  free  and 
spontaneous  motions,  in  their  native  element.  To  us  — 
with  the  exception  of  a  few,  principally  the  shark  tribe 
—  they  are  wholly  inoffensive,  as  even  sharks  are  in 
some  places.  None  of  them  leave  their  element  to 
attack  us.  Not  many,  even  in  their  own  domain, 
.  would  molest  us  ;  but  all,  even  the  most  hostile,  remain 
there,  helpless  and  indefensible  against  our  power,  how- 
ever great  their  magnitude  may  be.  All  are  at  our 
mercy.  The  fiercest  cannot  long  resist  our  means  of 
annoyance.  We  kill  and  take  what  we  please.  None 
can  either  master  or  escape  us.  The  divine  command, 
that  man  "  should  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the 
sea,"  has  been  unceasingly  fulfilled  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  in  every  generation,  both  of  their  races  and 
of  our  own. 

The  general  character  of  fish  is  not  that  of  voracity 
and  hostility.  It  is  gentleness,  harmlessness,  sociality, 
and  animation.  They  are  peaceful  animals  ;  happy  in 
themselves,  and  for  the  most  part  harmonizing  together, 
without  any  general  display  of  savage  cruelty  or  malig- 
nant passions.  Such  as  are  appointed  to  be  the  fooQ 
of  others  die  in  that  way,  and  are  sought  and  taken  for 
that  purpose,  when  the  appetite  actuates,  but  no  fur- 
ther. But  they  cannot  be  justly  stigmatized  as  vora- 
cious for  this  habit,  more  than  ourselves  for  taking 
and  eating  them  and  cattle,  sheep,  fowls,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  other  living  creatures.  We  are  carnivorous, 
out  not  voracious.  We  kill  and  cook  the  animals  we 
feed  on,  but  we  have  no  malice,  or  ill-will,  or  hostility 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      183 

in  such  action  or  diet,  any  more  than  in  plucking  the 
apple,  grinding  the  corn,  or  boiling  the  potato.  It  is 
therefore  unjust  to  impute  peculiar  voracity  and  de- 
structiveness  to  these  tribes,  because  some  feed  on 
smaller  fish,  and  others  on  the  moUusca,  worms,  and 
insects  that  they  find. 

Fish  are  sensitive  to  pain  and  fear,  and  are  also  as 
susceptive  of  pleasurable  feelings.  They  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  placid  and  contented  state  of  existence. 
No  bird  or  quadruped  seems  happier.  None  have 
fewer  wants.  None  require  less  means  in  order  to  be 
comfortable  :  they  need  only  food ;  and  yet  they  can 
subsist  even  without  this  when  the  abstinence  is  neces- 
sary. They  suffer  nothing  from  inclemency  of  weath- 
er, or  variations  of  the  seasons ;  nothing  from  heat, 
cold,  frost,  rain,  or  bitter  winds.  They  seem  to  be 
generally  exempted  from  disease.  They  are  always 
in  one  even  temperature ;  they  enjoy  a  longer  contin- 
uity of  health  and  strength  than  most  other  animals  ; 
and  from  these  causes  appear  to  possess  a  natural  lon- 
gevity, which  in  some  of  their  classes  surpasses  that  of 
man.  It  seems  to  have  been  ascertained  that  even  a 
carp  may  live  for  one  or  two  centuries.  Some  have 
the  comforts  of  family  association  ;  others,  that  of  large 
mutual  society.  One  kind  has  the  gratification  of  suck- 
ling and  nursing.  Their  sportiveness  evidences  their 
enjoyment ;  and  their  motion  by  swimming,  being  al- 
ways governable  as  to  its  celerity  by  their  own  will,  is 
gentle  or  rapid,  just  as  they  please  ;  and  must  therefore 
be  an  exercise  as  pleasurable  to  them,  as  those  of  our 
own  race  who  can  imitate  it  find  and  declare  it  to  be  to 
human  sensibility.  Even  their  fear  can  subside  when 
the  reason  for  it  ceases. 


184      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

That  they  possess  and  exercise  volition  we  may 
prove  by  the  two  swordfishes  who  plunged  their  beaks 
into  the  ships  they  pursued,  apparently  supposing  them 
to  be  whales,  or  some  analogous  substance,  exhibiting  a 
vigorous  determination  of  their  will  to  their  own  perdi- 
tion. Yet,  though  mistaken  in  the  object,  the  blow  was 
not  ill-judged,  nor  the  force  with  which  it  was  given ; 
for  this  would  have  buried  their  snout  so  far  in  a  whale 
as  to  have  enabled  them  to  have  extracted  the  nutritive 
matter  they  sought  by  the  action,  before  the  whale 
could  have  loosened  its  wounded  body  from  their  at- 
tack. To  mistake  the  keel  of  a  vessel  for  the  animal, 
was  not  a  greater  error  than  a  seaman's  mistaking  a 
whale  for  an  island,  or  a  fog-bank  for  a  real  shore, 
which  has  been  repeatedly  done. 

The  fish  which  climbs  trees  displays  an  equal  exer- 
tion of  peculiar  will,  though  its  exact  intention  is  not 
known,  beyond  the  general  idea  that  it  is  seeking  for 
food,  or  something  agreeable  to  its  perception.  The 
salmon  exhibits  a  remarkable  instance  of  determined 
effort  to  effect  a  rational  purpose,  in  the  extraordinary 
leaps  which  it  makes  to  surmount  cataracts  or  other 
obstacles  which  impede  its  progress  as  it  ascends  a 
river.  This  requires,  not  only  will,  but  correct  percep- 
tion and  judgment,  as  its  muscular  exertion  must  be 
regulated  by  the  extent  and  nature  of  the  hindcrance 
which  it  meets  with,  and  by  a  perception  of  the  height 
to  which  its  spring  must  reach.  Other  fish  can  make 
such  elevating  starts  when  they  choose.  The  several 
species  of  flying-fish  display,  in  like  manner,  voluntary 
exertions  on  emergencies  of  danger,  in  order  to  escape 
it ;  thus  exhibiting  a  spontaneous  motion  for  a  reasona- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      185 

ble  purpose,  at  the  proper  moment,  and  continued  as 
long  as  the  necessity  lasts,  or  the  ability  to  perform  it 
remains. 

The  periodical  migrations  of  so  many  tribes,  for  the 
purpose  of  fecundating  and  depositing  their  eggs,  dis.- 
play  a  mental  instinct  in  rational,  persevering,  and 
efficacious  operation.  The  same  combination  of  action 
and  judgment  appears  in  the  fish  that  crawls  on  land  in 
search  of  water ;  and  in  the  night  journeys  of  eels,  for 
obtaining  food.  But  when  they  move  with  the  sem- 
blance of  following  a  conductor,  in  a  marshalled  form, 
we  cannot  avoid  inferring  in  them  the  same  degree  of 
reasoned  intention  and  judgment  which  we  ascribe  to 
other  animals  who  exhibit  such  habits. 

A  distinct  action  of  judging  mind  appears  in  the  fish 
that  directs  the  projectile  blow  on  the  insects  it  per- 
ceives, and  desires  to  make  its  food ;  for  this  requires 
a  careful  proportioning  of  the  force  to  the  distance,  and 
to  the  amount  of  the  water  that  is  thrown ;  in  this  op- 
eration an  accurate  perception  and  instantaneous  judg- 
ment are  necessary  in  order  to  produce  so  continually 
a  successful  result. 

The  fishes  that  hide  themselves  in  the  mud,  to  be  in 
safety  from  their  assailants,  or  to  avoid  danger,  or  to 
procure  comfort,  evince  what  resembles  a  perception 
and  use  of  the  fittest  means  to  efTect  their  wishes. 
The  salmon,  when  storms  come  on,  sinks  to  the  bot- 
tom, as  if  with  a  right  judgment  to  avoid  what  would 
injure  it ;  while  those  to  whom  the  agitation  will  be 
rather  pleasurable  than  pernicious,  become  sensible  of 
the  impending  change,  and  rise  to  the  surface  of  its 
lake  or  stream  as  it  approaches.  All  these,  and  many 
16* 


186  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Others  we  might  relate,  are  actions  for  reasonable  pur- 
poses, very  similar  to  what  all  right  judgment  would  do 
under  such  circumstances. 

Such  are  the  fish  creation,  —  a  race  of  beings  both 
feeling  and  thinking,  in  that  particular  structure  of  body 
and  residentiary  element  to  which  they  were  assigned. 
Like  the  vegetable  tribes,  they  liave  ,  been  made  to  be 
useful  to  man,  both  in  contributing  to  his  sustenance 
and  in  supplying  him  with  many  important  conven- 
iences. But,  independently  of  the  human  race,  they 
have  been  created  to  be  happy  beings  in  themselves. 
From  their  vast  numbers  and  varieties,  and  the  com- 
paratively small  knowledge  which  man  has  of  them, 
and  the  few  out  of  their  numerous  species  which  have 
been  converted  to  his  use,  we  may  assume  that  they 
were  made  principally  on  their  own  account,  and  for 
the  display  to  us  of  our  Creator's  mind,  power,  thoughts, 
inventions,  and  imagination.  They  enlarge  our  knowl- 
edge of  his  omnipotence,  and  give  us  ocular  sensations 
of  its  multifarious  potentiality. 

Of  other  Orders  of  Animals.  —  Our  space  is  too 
limited  to  permit  us  to  enter  into  details  respecting 
serpents,  whose  variety,  power,  and  qualities  may 
well  excite  our  admiration ;  nor  can  we  do  more  than 
mention  the  crustaceous  and  molluscous  races,  which 
teem  in  the  waters  of  the  globe.  The  insect  tribes, 
perhaps,  excite  the  wonder  of  the  naturalist  even  more 
than  any  other  order  of  animals,  yet  these  must  be 
passed  by  with  a  few  brief  remarks. 

The  metamorphoses  of  insects  are  their  most  charac- 
erizing  peculiarity.  In  these  we  certainly  behold  three 
distinct  animals,  as  dissimilar  from  each  other,  in  some 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      187 

genera,  as  the  bird  is  from  the  serpent  and  the  shell- 
fish, and  yet  united  into  one  and  the  same  living  being 
by  the  personal  identity  of  their  principle  of  life. 
This  only  continues  permanent  and  abiding  through 
their  triple  change  of  material  form.  The  bodily  sub- 
stance undergoes  the  most  striking  mutations  ;  but  the 
existing  and  feeling  self  remains  unceasing  and  unal- 
tered through  all.  The  same  animal  crawls  in  its  cat- 
erpillar shape ;  rests  or  sleeps  in  its  torpid  chrysalis , 
and  springs  from  earth  into  air,  with  its  new  wings,  its 
proboscis,  and  its  antenna?,  in  its  butterfly  or  moth  con- 
figuration. What  a  stupendous  wonder  this  magical 
transformation  would  be  to  us,  if  it  were  not  so  familiar. 
There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  all  the  parts  of  the 
butterfly  are  in  the  caterpillar ;  as  those  of  the  human 
being  are  in  the  oval  embryo.  The  material  mechanism, 
the  specific  organization,  is  all  ready  and  arranged ; 
though  not  at  first  discernible,  from  its  invisible  minute- 
ness. Gradually,  this  hidden  form  increases  into  an 
object  of  sight ;  eveiy  limb  and  function  enlarging  in 
just  and  progressive  proportion ;  until  the  complete 
figure,  so  exactly  beforehand  conceived,  assigned,  and 
provided,  grows  into  its  last  perfection,  and  emerges 
like  a  new  creation,  into  its  aerial  and  beautiful  vivacity. 
It  seems  like  a  resurrection  from  the  tomb  into  a 
fresh  life,  with  celestial  destinations.  It  is  so  anala- 
gous  to  that  which  the  human  spirit  is  appointed  to 
undergo,  that  the  intellect  cannot  well  avoid  viewing 
the  insect  transformation  as  the  emblem,  the  toke:i, 
the  natural  herald  and  promise  of  our  own.  The 
ancients,  without  our  Christian  revelation,  thought  so  ; 
for  one  of  their  most  pleasing  imaginations,  yet  visible 


188  OtOGEAPHICAL   VIEW   OF    THE    EARTH. 

on  some  of  their  gravestones  which  we  dig  up,  is  that 
of  a  hutterfly  over  the  name  or  the  inscription  which 
they  record.  They  place  the  insect  there  as  the  repre- 
sentation of  their  Psyche,  —  of  the  animating  and  sur- 
viving soul,  —  as  the  intimation  that  it  will  reappear  in 
a  new  form  and  region  of  being.  The  allusion  and 
the  applicability  are  so  striking,  that  we  cannot  but  be- 
lieve that  one  of  the  great  purposes  of  the  Deity  in 
creating  his  insect  kingdom  was  to  excite  this  senti- 
ment in  the  human  heart ;  and  to  raise  by  it  the  con- 
templative mind  to  look  forward  to  a  possible  revival 
from  the  tomb,  as  the  butterfly  from  its  sepulchral 
chrysalis.  Like  the  insect,  the  human  personality  has 
three  states,  and  changes,  and  forms  of  being,  but 
continues  indestructible  through  all.  It  emerges  from 
its  ovum  into  the  figure  and  life  of  the  present  fleshy 
body ;  it  rests  in  its  earthly  grave,  unextinguished, 
though  visible  to  mortal  eye  no  longer ;  and  it  will 
emerge  from  that  at  the  appointed  time  into  its  ethereal 
riature  and  immortalized  capacities ;  always  the  same 
self  in  each  transmutation ;  never  dying  or  dissolving 
with  its  material  investment;  but  surviving,  to  bloom 
in  everlasting  youth  amid  the  most  exquisite  felicity, 
—  the  spiritualized  butterfly,  with  angel  wings,  perhaps, 
and  an  imperishable  vitality. 

The  fly  passes  through  such  changes  to  its  winged 
state.  So  does  the  gnat,  that  annoys  us,  though  always 
peculiarly  alert  in  its  own  happiness.  The  beede  like- 
wise. And  such  a  transformation  the  little  maggot, 
that  we  meet  with  in  the  nuts  we  open,  undei'gocs  if 
undisturbed.  These  successive  states  of  insects,  after 
the  egg,  are  usually  called  the  larva,  the  pupa,  and 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     189 

the  imago.  Most,  in  the  second,  the  pupa  or  chrysalis 
stage,  never  eat ;  but  several  species  continue  to  move 
and  feed. 

Insects  have  the  senses  of  other  animals,  though 
varying  in  their  modifications  and  acuteness.  Their 
hearing  has  been  questioned  ;  but  it  seems  certain  that 
some,  at  least,  possess  this  faculty.  A  nervous  sys- 
tem, analogous  in  matter  and  offices  to  the  same  sub- 
stance wherever  it  exists,  but  in  several  respects  differ- 
ently organized  and  distributed,  has  been  traced  in 
their  bodies. 

That  insects  have  spontaneous  self-motion  and  free 
agency  we  continually  see.  They  fly  about  as  they 
please.  They  are  not  in  a  mechanical  body,  like  a 
wooden  or  metallic  automaton,  made  by  human  art, 
which  has  a  certain  number  of  springs  that  move  its 
arm  into  as  many  determinate  movements  as  these  are 
provided  to  occasion,  and  no  other.  No  fly  comes  m 
one  straight,  undeviating,  or  in  one  fixed,  circular  line, 
compelled  to  move  only  in  that,  and  so  to  return ;  but 
we  see  that  it  can  and  does  move  in  all  directions,  from 
its  spontaneous  impulses,  and  in  all  degrees  of  quick- 
ness or  slowness,  and  comes  and  goes  as  it  pleases. 
Every  butterfly,  gnat,  or  beetle  does  the  same.  No 
man  has  or  exerts  a  more  manifest,  free,  and  self- 
originating  agency,  ever  diversified,  changeable,  an^ 
unconstrained,  than  all  winged  insects  display,  where- 
ever  we  see  them. 

We  equally  see  the  full  and  free  exercise  of  in- 
dividual choice  and  will.  Tiy  with  any  walking  in- 
sect ;  it  will  move,  not  as  you  choose,  but  as  it  likes 
Check  it  in  one  path,  and,  unless  through  fear  it  pauses 


190      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH, 

:t  will  take  another.  It  will  not  go  in  the  course  or 
to  the  point  you  wish,  if  left  to  itself,  or  without  a 
positive  compulsion. 

They  show  us,  that  they  have  as  clear  and  just  a 
perception  of  external  things  as  we  have.  The  fly  knows 
the  treacle ;  the  wasp,  the  sugar ;  the  bee,  his  hive  and 
honey ;  the  caterpillar,  the  herb  he  likes,  as  well  as  we 
do.  If  driven  away,  they  return  to  the  thing  they 
desire.  The  bee  does  not  go  to  a  leaf,  instead  of  the 
flower ;  nor  to  a  stone,  instead  of  a  tree.  They  per- 
ceive what  they  want  to  be  the  thing  they  want  or  like, 
and  they  move  towards  it  accordingly.  In  this  con- 
duct they  judge  as  rightly  about  it  as  we  should  do,  and 
act  as  congruously  towards  it.  The  more  we  study 
the  actions  of  insects  with  reference  to  their  nature 
and  purposes,  we  shall  find  that  they  habitually  act 
with  as  much  proper  judgment  concerning  them,  as  our 
mind  in  their  bodies  would  do. 

If  we  were  ants,  or  bees,  what  could  we  do  better 
than  what  they  do.'  The  instances  of  wasps  and 
others  reducing  the  weight  or  shape  of  their  prey,  to 
enable  them  to  carry  it,  are  instances  of  both  reasoning 
and  judgment.  So  is  that  of  the  beetles'  undermining 
the  stake,  to  get  at  the  toad,  which  it  held  above  their 
reach.  So  is  that  of  the  bumblebees'  piercing  the 
side  of  the  calyx,  to  get  at  the  honey,  when  they  can- 
not reach  the  nectarium  by  going  within  it.  No  hu- 
man parent  could  exert  more  reasoning  and  affection- 
ate foresight  for  the  benefit  of  the  child  that  was  about 
to  be  born,  than  another  species  of  bee  uniformly  dis- 
plays. The  earwig  appears  to  hatch  her  eggs  with 
the  maternal  assiduity  of  the  hen,  and  to  allow  no  op- 


GEOGEAPHICAn  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      191 

posing  interposition  to  frustrate  her  intention.  To  as- 
sist a  fellow-creature  with  the  cooperation  of  our  labor, 
when  it  is  needed,  is  an  act  both  of  an  observing  and 
meaning  mind,  and  of  a  benevolent  feeling ;  and  such 
an  operation  is  performed  by  the  pillchafers.  It  is  a 
curious  instance  of  the  analogy  which  the  creation  has 
spread  through  all  her  races  of  animal  being,  as  if  to 
manifest  that  one  jMaker's  mind  and  agency  have 
fabricated  all  things,  that  some  insects  appear  to  have 
the  faculty  and  habit  of  the  nutritive  rumination. 
Their  discernment  of  the  best  place  to  be  in  foi  their 
transformation  from  their  caterpillar  state,  and  inten- 
tional motion  on  purpose  to  put  themselves  in  it,  has 
all  the  semblance  of  perceiving  and  judging  mind.  It 
is  not  resolvable  into  mere  external  impulse.  It  seems 
to  arise  from  the  animal's  own  v/ill  and  determination 
on  its  sensations  and  necessities. 

There  seem  to  be  reasonable  grounds  to  infer  that 
insects  communicate  their  ideas  and  wishes  to  each 
other ;  and  that  ants  perceive  what  another  needs,  and 
voluntarily  assist  him  to  attain  his  end.  Dr.  Franklin 
inferred  such  a  communication  between  this  class  of 
insects,  from  a  fact  of  his  own  observation.  That  in- 
sects have  excitable  passions,  and  can  be  irritated  by 
mutual  provocation  to  personal  battle  which  they  do 
not  naturally  seek,  the  Chinese  have  discovered,  and 
inhumanly  made  the  fact  instrumental  to  their  own 
amusement. 

The  muscular  powers  of  insects  are  still  more  supe- 
rior to  those  of  the  greatest  animals  than  their  com- 
parative minds.  Some  amusing  representations  have 
been  given  of  this  difference.     Thev  have  also  another 


192     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

peculiarity,  unequalled,  and  not  possessed  by  any  bird 
or  quadruped.  Tliey  can  reproduce  the  limbs  they 
may  lose.  Their  difFusibility  is  also  extraordinary,  and 
in  some  species  rivals  that  of  plants.  Hence,  they 
may  occasionally  appear  in  the  most  distant  countries, 
where  before  they  were  unknown.  Such  is  their  vi- 
tality that  they  can  also  live  in  the  heat  and  confine- 
ment of  the  human  stomach.  As  some  fish  and  squir- 
rels can  fly,  so  there  is  a  species  of  spider  \vhich 
have  the  power  of  floating  or  moving  in  air.  But 
creation  is  full  of  analogies,  pointing  to  one  general 
Originator,  and  linking  all  sentient  things  into  one  great 
family  of  related  fellow-creatures. 

Of  the  Physical  Character  of  Man.  —  The 
bones,  muscles,  blood,  arteries,  veins,  nerves,  and 
brain  of  the  human  frame,  —  its  breathing,  diges- 
tive, nutritive,  and  circulating  systems,  —  its  sensorial 
organs,  and  its  movable  legs,  —  its  desire  and  need 
of  food,  —  and  its  sensual  appetites  and  passions, — 
are  all  similar  or  nearly  so  to  those  of  most  quadru- 
peds, and  are  shared  by  us  in  common,  more  or  less, 
with  all  animated  nature.  In  these  we  are  like  other 
animals,  and  they  are  like  us,  —  in  these  resem- 
blances we  are  so  nearly  related,  that  if  we  were  to  be 
judged  by  a  superficial  view  of  our  bodily  structure 
alone,  the  brute  and  the  man  would  be  thought  to 
differ  more  in  figure  than  in  nature,  and  might  seem 
to  be  in  more  fraternal  kinship  than  is  usually  ad- 
mitted. 

And  yet,  if  more  closely  compared,  the  human  body 
is  found  to  have  some  peculiarities,  which,  even  ex- 
clusive of  its  unequalled  soul,  attach  to  man  a  decideo 


GEOGRAPniC/\L    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  193 

and  permanent  distinction  and  superiority,  which  no 
order  of  animals  can  rival,  imitate,  or  acquire.  Of  tliese 
it  will  bo  sufFicient  to  particularize  four  differences, 
which  are  quite  enough  to  confer  on  our  species  the 
power  of  subduing,  transcending,  and  governing  every 
other  class  and  kingdom  of  terrestrial  nature. 

The  first  is  the  erect  structure,  which  both  Ovid  and 
Cicero  remarked  and  panegyrized.  All  other  animals 
are  so  framed  in  their  bodily  construction  as  not  to  pos- 
sess this  beauty  and  this  advantage.  They  are  made 
to  be  prone,  with  the  exception  of  the  Simia  tribe ;  and 
they  cannot  raise  themselves  on  their  hind  feet  without 
pain,  awkwardness,  and  inefficiency  for  any  continuance. 
And  though  the  ape  and  baboon  class  have  more  power 
of  supporting  an  erect  posture,  yet  they  cannot  do 
it  with  the  facility,  activity,  strength,  energy,  and  natu- 
ral ability  of  man,  and  do  not  appear  to  derive  any 
benefit  from  it  over  their  fellow-brutes.  But  in  the 
human  race  this  erect  stature  is  the  foundation  of  their 
dominion  and  superiority  over  all  the  rest  of  the  animal 
world. 

The  second  peculiarity  is  the  bony,  muscular,  and 
ligamentary  structure  of  the  human  legs  and  feet, 
wnich  give  to  his  body,  in  its  erect  posture,  a  solidity 
of  support,  united  with  an  agility,  facility,  and  variety 
of  movement,  that  no  other  animal  possesses  in  equal 
applicability  or  effective  power.  By  his  legs  and  feet, 
man  is  fitted  for  every  kind  of  motion,  except  that  of 
flying  ;  and  though  some  quadrupeds  excel  him  \n  tem- 
porary speed,  none  can  vie  with  him  in  his  universality 
and  diversity  of  locomotion,  nor  in  his  power  of  contin- 
uing it.  A  man  cannot  outrun  a  horse  for  a  limitea 
13      XX.— 17 


194     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  TUE  EARTH. 

distance,  but  in  a  protracted  journey  will  frequently 
walk  him  down. 

The  third  and  chief  distinguishing  superiority  which 
we  shall  notice  is  the  human  arm,  with  its  hand  and 
fingers.    This  is  indeed  the  sceptre  of  his  power,  —  his 
instrument  of  domination,  —  his  all-conquering  and  all- 
transcending  mechanism.     It  has  all  the  potentiality  of 
an  enchanter's  rod,  and  has  achieved  those  wonders  of 
human  art,  strength,  and  ingenuity,  which  the  magicians 
of  our  imagination  might  toil  in  vain  to  surpass.     We 
have  not  the  eagle's  talons  or  the  lion's  claws  at  the 
end  of  our  fingers  ;  but  we  can  arm  them  with  swords, 
guns,  and  bayonets,  far  more  terrible.    All  that  we  ad- 
mire and  dread,  and  use  in  mechanism  and  manufac- 
ture, —  in  art,  war,  luxury,  labor,  and  comfort,  —  is 
the  produce  of  the  human  hand.    Anatomy  will  explain 
the  minute  and  scientific  formation  and    arrangement 
of  our  bones,  and  their  articulations  in  this  limb ;  and 
of  the   muscles  and   ligaments  which  move  them,  in 
such  instantaneous  obedience  to  our  thought  and  will. 
The    fourth   great  dissimilarity   which   may  be    re- 
marked, and  which  is   more   immediately  connected 
with  our  intellect,  our  sympathies,  and  our  sensibilities, 
is  the  beautiful  and  delicate  skin  of  the  human  body. 
Hasty  and  splenetic  men  have  inveighed  against  Prov- 
idence  for  sending  us  into  the  world  so  naked  of  all 
covering,  —  so  destitute  of  natural  clothing,  —  so  ex- 
posed to  all  injuries  and  sufferings  of  temperature  and 
wet,  —  while   other  animals   have    feathered,  woolly, 
hairy,  horny,  shelly,  or  leathery  outsides.     Grumbling 
imbecility !      Would   any   such   querulous   declaimers 
exchange  their  admirable  skin  for  the  hide  of  a  beast, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      195 

the  scales  of  a  crocodile,  or  the  feathers  of  a  turkey  ? 
Could  any  mind  that  sees,  feels,  or  reasons,  desire  to 
have  the  physiognomy  of  a  horse,  an  eagle,  a  lion,  or 
an  elephant,  instead  of  the  human  face  divine, —  in- 
stead of  its  lovely  complexion,  its  eloquent  features,  its 
attractive  delicacy,  and  its  impressive  dignity  ?  But, 
independent  of  all  heauty,  and  of  all  that  delights  the 
eye,  the  taste,  and  the  touch,  in  the  human  skin,  who 
would  relinquish  the  mental  advantages  which  we  de- 
rive from  its  exquisite  nervous  sensitivity  ?  We  could 
not  have  a  large  portion  of  our  sensations  and  ideas 
without  it.  It  is  the  delicate  sensibility  of  the  ends  and 
mside  of  our  fingers,  and  of  our  palm,  which  provides 
us  with  an  important  part  of  our  most  useful  knowl- 
edge. The  connection  is  unceasing  between  our  mind 
and  its  delicate  skin.  A  fine  nervous  expansion,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  brain,  is  purposely  spread  over  the 
outside  of  our  bodies,  immediately  under  the  last  cuti- 
cle. That  our  intellect  may  have  the  benefit  of  this 
universal  sensitivity,  it  is  materially  associated  with  our 
moral  feelings  and  with  our  best  sympathies.  No 
small  portion  of  the  tenderness  of  our  nature,  and  of 
our  compassionate  benevolences,  are  related  to  it. 
With  the  hide  of  a  rhinoceros,  or  the  wool  of  a  sheep, 
or  the  shaggy  coat  of  a  bear,  we  should  not  possess 
the  feelings  of  a  human  heart,  nor  the  intellectual  sen- 
sibility of  a  cultivated  mind.  A  comparative  stupidity, 
hardness  of  nature,  insensibility,  roughness,  cruelty,  or 
savage  humor,  would  characterize  us  in  such  a  trans- 
formation, as  corresponding  qualities  accompany  other 
creatures,  according  as  their  outside  habiliment  differs 
from  our  beautiful  exterior. 


196      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Miscellaneous  Notes  on  Man.  —  Origin  of  the 
different  Races.  —  This  subject  has  been  much  dis- 
cussed, and  many  theories  have  been  adopted.  The 
general  conclusion  among  scientific  men,  as  deduced 
from  a  large  survey  of  facts,  is,  that  they  all  originated 
from  one  source.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  this  con- 
clusion are  as  follows. 

In  the  first  place,  we  see  among  the  same  race 
great  diversities.  Thus,  among  the  inhabitants  of  Hin- 
dostan,  known  to  be  of  one  descent,  there  are  groups 
of  people  of  almost  all  shades  of  color,  and  of  great 
divei"sity  of  features.  In  Africa,  there  are  negro  na- 
tions of  intensely  black  complexion,  such  as  the  Jolofs, 
Mandingoes,  and  Kafirs,  whose  features  and  limbs  are 
as  elegant  as  those  of  the  best  European  nations.  Now, 
if  we  infer  from  the  differences  we  discover  in  the 
five  great  races  a  difference  of  origin,  must  we  not 
also  suppose  that  the  diversities  we  find  among  mem- 
bers of  the  same  nation  must  also  be  the  result  of  a 
difference  of  origin  ?  Such  a  supposition  runs  us  at 
once  into  absurdity.  It  is  therefore  more  rational  to 
conclude,  that  the  same  causes  that  create  diversity  in 
the  physical  characteristics  of  a  nation,  operating  for  a 
longer  period,  and  under  particular  circumstances  with 
greater  force,  upon  the  human  family,  may  have  pro- 
duced all  the  diversities  which  are  found  among  man- 
kind. 

It  would  seem  that  nature  herself  has  provided  for 
diversifying  the  characteristics  of  the  human  race,  even 
in  the  birth.  True  whites  have  been  born  among  the 
negroes,  and  the  tendency  to  this  singularity  is  trans- 
mitted in  families.     There  is  an  authentic  instance  of  a 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      197 

set  of  perfectly  black  childi-en  being  born  to  an  Arab 
couple,  in  whose  ancestry  no  such  blood  had  inter- 
mingled.    Many  similar  instances  have  occurred. 

The  style  of  living  is  ascertained  to  have  a  powerful 
effect  in  modifying  the  human  figure  in  the  course  of 
generations,  and  this  even  in  its  osseous  structure. 
About  two  hundred  years  ago,  a  number  of  people 
were  driven,  by  a  barbarous  policy,  from  the  counties 
of  Antrim  and  Down,  in  Ireland,  towards  the  sea-coast, 
where  they  have  ever  since  been  settled,  but  in  unusu- 
ally miserable  circumstances  even  for  Ireland  ;  and  the 
consequence  is  that  they  exhibit  peculiar  features  of 
the  most  repulsive  kind,  —  projecting  jaws,  with  large, 
open  mouths,  depressed  noses,  high  cheek-bones,  and 
bow  legs,  together  with  an  extremely  diminutive  stat- 
ure. These,  with  an  abnormal  slenderness  of  the 
limbs,  are  the  outward  marks  of  a  low  and  barbarous 
condition  all  over  the  world  ;  it  is  particularly  seen  in 
the  Australian  aborigines. 

"  Coarse,  unwholesome,  and  ill-prepared  food,"  says 
Buffon,  "  makes  the  human  race  depreciate.  All  those 
people  who  live  miserably  are  ugly  and  ill-made. 
Even  in  France,  the  country  people  are  not  so  beauti- 
ful as  those  who  live  in  towns  ;  and  I  have  often  re- 
marked, that  in  those  villages  where  the  people  are 
richer  and  better  fed,  the  men  are  likewise  more 
handsome,  and  have  better  countenances."  He  might 
have  added,  that  elegant  and  commodious  dwellings, 
cleanly  habits,  comfortable  clothing,  and  being  exposed 
to  the  open  air  only  as  much  as  health  requires,  coop- 
erate with  food  in  increasing  the  elegance  of  a  race  of 
human  beings. 

17* 


198  GEOGKAPITICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Climate  is  known  to  have  great  influence  in  chang- 
ing the  physical  cliaracter  of  man.  Dr.  Dwight  says  :  — 
"  The  change  of  the  blacks  whose  ancestors  were  in- 
troduced into  New  England  is  already  very  great,  as 
to  their  shape,  features,  hair,  and  complexion.  Within 
tlie  last  thirty  years,  I  have  not  seen  a  single  person  of 
African  descent  who  was  not  many  shades  whiter  than 
the  blacks  formerly  imported  directly  from  Guinea." 
The  same  writer  tells  us  of  an  Indian  who  became  en- 
tirely white,  his  skin  appearing  perfectly  smooth,  fresh, 
and  delicate.  He  also  informs  us  that  he  saw  a  negro, 
named  Henry  Moss,  born  in  Virginia,  whose  hair  was 
originally  woolly  and  black ;  this  person  became 
white,  and  had  a  clear  and  fresh  complexion ;  his 
hair  also  became  of  a  flaxen  hue,  and  perfectly  free 
from  curling. 

These  and  similar  facts  would  seem  to  be  sufficient 
to  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  varieties  of  the  hu- 
man race  have  sprung  from  the  influence  of  circum- 
stances, and  the  provisions  of  nature  which  tend  to 
the  same  point. 

Age  of  Man.  —  Children  die  in  large  proportions, 
because  their  diseases  cannot  be  explained,  and  be- 
cause the  organs  are  not  habituated  to  the  functions  of 
life.  Half  die  before  twenty -six,  and  two  thirds  before 
fifty.  The  mean  of  life  varies  in  different  countries 
from  forty  to  forty-five.  A  generation  from  father  to 
son  is  about  thirty  years.  The  mean  succession  of 
kings  is  about  twenty-two  years,  less  than  a  genera- 
tion, because  they  often  suff'cr  violent  deaths,  or  de- 
stroy themselves  by  vice  and  indulgence.  Of  men  in 
general,  five   sixths   die   before   seventy,  and   fifteen 


GEOGRAPiIIC.\L    VIEW    OF     THE    EARTH.  199 

sixteenths  before  ciglity.  After  eighty  it  is  rather 
endurance  than  enjoyment.  The  nerves  are  blunted, 
the  senses  fail,  the  muscles  are  rigid ;  the  softer  tubes 
become  hard,  the  memory  fails,  the  brain  ossifies,  the 
affections  arc  buried,  and  hope  ceases.  The  remaining 
sixteenth  die  at  eighty,  exceping  the  hundred  and 
thirty-third  part,  at  ninety.  A  remainder  die,  from 
inability  to  live,  at  or  before  one  hundred. 

In  Russia,  much  more  than  in  any  other  country, 
instances  of  longevity  arc  numerous,  if  the  accounts 
are  true.  In  the  report  of  the  Holy  Synod  in  1827, 
during  the  year  1825,  and  only  among  the  Greek  re- 
ligion, 848  men  had  reached  upwards  of  100  years  of 
age ;  32  had  passed  their  120th  year ;  4  were  from 
130  to  135.  Out  of  606,818  men,  who  died  in  1826, 
2,785  were  above  90 ;  1,432  above  95 ;  and  818  above 
100  years  of  age.  Among  this  last  number,  88  were 
above  115  ;  24  more  than  120  ;  7  about  125  ;  and  one, 
160. 

Rile)''  asserts  that  Arabs,  in  the  desert,  live  two  hun- 
dred years,  but  this  may  be  doubted.  "  Old  Parr,"  in 
England,  died  in  1635,  aged  152  years.  Henry  Jen- 
kins, of  Bolton,  Yorkshire,  was  the  oldest  man  known 
in  modern  times.     He  died  in  1670,  aged   169. 

The  black  races  on  the  African  coast  are  short- 
lived, and  old  at  forty-five.  In  the  plains  of  the  in- 
terior, many  live  to  one  hundred.  Slaves  in  the  West 
Indies  are  mentioned  as  from  130  to  150  years  of  age. 
Burchell  mentions  Hottentots  near  one  hundred. 

About  the  age  of  thirty-six,  the  lean  man  becomes 
fat,  and  the  fat  man  lean.  Again,  between  the  years 
forty-three  and  fifty,  his  appetite  fails,  his  complexion 


200      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  Of  THE  EARTH. 

fades,  and  his  tongue  is  apt  to  be  furred  upon  the  leatj 
exertion  of  body  or  mind.  At  this  period  his  muscles 
become  flabby,  his  joints  weak,  his  spirits  droop,  and 
his  sleep  is  imperfect  and  unrefreshing.  After  sufTer- 
mg  under  these  complaints  a  year,  or  perhaps  two,  he 
starts  afresh  with  renewed  vigor,  and  goes  on  to  sixty- 
one  or  two,  when  a  similar  change  takes  place,  but 
with  aggravated  symptoms.  When  these  grand  peri- 
ods have  been  successively  passed,  the  gravity  of  in- 
cumbent years  is  more  strongly  marked,  and  he  be- 
gins to  boast  of  his  age. 

The  grand  climacteric  in  human  life  varies  between 
sixty  and  seventy,  and  was  anciently  an  astrological 
period,  which  depended  on  the  revolutions  of  Jupiter 
and  Saturn,  five  of  one  and  two  of  the  other. 

Stature  of  Man.  —  Quetelet  and  others  have  attentive- 
ly examined  the  relative  heights  of  individuals  of  single 
nations,  at  different  ages,  with  a  view  to  determine  the 
general  phenomena  of  man's  growth  ;  but  few  observa- 
tions have  been  made  upon  the  respective  heights  of  dif- 
ferent races  or  nations.  The  stature  of  the  Caucasian 
has  not  been  fully  compared  with  that  of  the  Mongol,  or 
the  Negro,  or  the  red  Indian  ;  nor  have  single  nations, 
belonging  to  any  of  these  gi'cat  varieties,  been  satisfac- 
torily contrasted  with  one  another,  as  respects  height. 
No  accurate  comparisons,  for  example,  have  yet  been 
made  of  German  with  Spaniard,  of  Briton  with  French- 
man, or,  in  fact,  of  any  one  European  nation  with 
another.  The  following  table,  exhibiting  the  com- 
parative heights  of  a  small  number  of  Englishmen  and 
negroes,  is  given  in  the  work  of  Mr.  Lawrence  upon 
the  natural  history  of  man.  The  negroes  were  from 
various  regions. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF   THE   EAKTH.  201 

Stature.  Stature. 


Feet. 

In. 

Feet. 

In. 

An  Englishman, 

6 

4| 

A  Negro, 

.     5 

10| 

do.    . 

6 

1 

do. 

5 

5i 

do. 

6 

0 

do.    . 

.     5 

8 

do.    . 

5 

9^ 

do. 

5 

0 

do. 

5 

7 

do.    . 

.     5 

n 

do.    . 

5 

4| 

do. 

5 

0 

The  Caucasian  here  has  considerably  the  advantage 
of  the  negro,  the  average  height  of  the  former  class 
being  nearly  five  feet  nine  inches,  while  the  black 
averages  little  above  five  feet  sbc  inches ;  and  the  ad- 
vantage would  still  be  on  the  same  side  were  we  to 
leave  the  first  Englishman,  certainly  a  man  of  uncom- 
mon height,  entirely  out  of  the  reckoning.  But  it 
must  be  admitted,  that  from  such  an  insignificant 
amount  of  examples  no  satisfactory  conclusions  can 
be  drawn. 

Professor  Forbes  of  Edinburgh  has  recently  made  a 
series  of  experiments  upon  the  physical  differences 
between  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Belgians,  the  re- 
sults of  which  constitute  the  most  interesting  informa- 
tion we  are  able  to  lay  before  the  reader  with  respect 
to  the  comparative  heights  of  sub-varieties  of  ihe  Cau- 
casians. The  following  is  a  table  drawn  up  by  Pro- 
fessor Forbes,  to  exhibit  the  relative  heights,  at  differ- 
ent ages,  of  the  students  attending  his  class,  duiing  a 
series  of  years,  and  belonging  respectively  to  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Tlie  Belgian  measurements 
were  probably  derived  from  other  sources.  The  num- 
ber of  individuals  subjected  to  examination  was  very 


202      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

considerablo,   so   many   as   eighty  Scotch   and  thirty 
EngUsh  being  occasionally  measured  at  once. 

Heights  (full  dimensions,  loith  shoes). 


Age. 

English. 

Scotch. 

Irish. 

Belgians. 

Inches. 

Inches. 

Inches. 

Inches. 

15 

64-4 

64-7 

... 

61-8 

16 

66-5 

66-8 

... 

64-2 

17 

67-5 

67-9 

661 

18 

68-1 

68-5 

68-7 

67-2 

19 

68-5 

68-9 

69-4 

67-7 

20 

68-7 

69-1 

69-8 

67-9 

21 

68-8 

69-2 

700 

680 

22 

68-9 

69-2 

701 

68-1 

23 

68-9 

69-3 

70-2 

68-2 

24 

68-9 

69-3 

70-2 

68-2 

25 

68-9 

69-3 

70-2 

68-3 

This  table  places  the  Irishman  uppermost  in  the 
scale  of  stature,  the  Scotsman  second,  the  English- 
man next,  and  the  Belgian  lowest.  The  comparison 
seems  to  be  fair  as  regards  the  parties  taken. 

The  belief  of  the  existence  of  races  of  giants  seems 
to  be  sustained  by  the  Bible  and  Sanconiathon. 
There  are  sometimes  men,  seven,  eight,  or  nine  feet 
high ;  and,  among  savage  tribes,  this  adds  to  their  as- 
cendency, and  assures  the  rank  of  chief.  All  build- 
ings, door-ways,  passages,  &c.,  indicate,  however, 
that  five  feet  eight  inches,  or  five  feet  nine  inches, 
has  always  been  the  average  height  of  the  human 
race.  The  book  of  Genesis  speaks  of  •'  sons  of  Gad,'' 
who  were  giants ;  of  the  men  of  Anak,  to  whom  the 
lews  were  as  grasshoppers ;  and   the  Bible  elsewhere 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAETH.      203 

tells  US  of  Og,  king  of  Bashan,  who  was  thirteen  and 
one  fourth  feet  high,  and  Goliath,  eleven  feet !  There 
are  also  other  testimonies  to  the  general  fact,  that  there 
were,  in  early  times,  tribes  of  men  of  very  large  stat- 
ure ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  this  incompatible  with  the 
theory  that  the  common  standard  has  always  been  the 
same  as  now. 

The  Esquimaux  and  Bosjesmen  attain  but  four  feet 
three  inches,  and  the  Mongol  Tartars  and  Kamtscha- 
dales  but  four  feet  nine  inches.  The  Caribs  are  five 
feet  eleven  inches ;  the  Navigators'  Islanders,  five  feet 
six  inches ;  and  the  Patagonians,  six  feet  seven  inches 
and  upwards.  It  appears  to  be  a  general  law,  that 
man  dwindles  in  size  in  the  inhospitable  polar  regions. 

Weight  of  Man.  —  The  average  weight  of  the  male 
infant  at  birth  is  seven  pounds  avoirdupois  ;  that  of  the 
female  is  not  quite  six  and  a  quarter.  The  maximum 
weight  —  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  —  of  the  male 
is  attained  at  the  age  of  forty ;  that  of  the  female  — 
nearly  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  pounds  —  is  not 
attained  till  fifty ;  from  which  ages  they  decline  after- 
terwards,  the  male  to  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
pounds,  the  female  to  a  hundred  and  nine  pounds. 
The  full-grown  adult  is  twenty  times  as  heavy  as  a 
new-bom  infant.  In  the  first  year,  the  child  triples  his 
weight ;  afterwards,  the  growth  proceeds  in  geometri- 
cal progression.  A.t  an  equality  of  age,  the  male  is 
generally  heavier  than  the  female  ;  towards  the  age  of 
twelve  years  only,  an  individual  of  each  sex  has  the 
same  weight. 

The  stature,  weight,  and  strength  of  the  human 
body   form   but  parts   of  one  and   the  same   subject. 


204  GEOGKArillCAL    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Each  of  these  properties  or  characteristics,  if  not  de- 
pendent on,  is  at  least  closely  related  to,  both  the  oth- 
ers. In  all  undertakings  that  require  the  exertion  of 
physical  energy,  and  more  particularly  in  war,  bodily 
weight  J  it  has  now  been  clearly  shown,  is  a  most  im- 
porta»}t  element ;  and,  wherever  the  superiority  in  this 
respect  lies,  thither  will  success,  other  circumstances 
being  equal,  almost  infallibly  tend.  An  observation  of 
the  various  collisions  of  troops  on  the  field  of  Waterloo, 
whether  of  horse  or  foot,  has  been  found  to  substantiate 
this  proposition. 

Professor  Forbes  extended  his  inquiries  among  his 
students^  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish,  to  bodily  weight, 
adding  examinations  of  similar,  and  also  of  mixed, 
classes  of  Belgians.      The  results  were  as  follow :  — 

Weight  in  Pounds,  including  Clothes. 


Age. 

15 

English. 
Ib3. 

114.5 

Scotch. 

11)3. 

112 

Iii^h. 
lbs. 

Belgians 

(not  mixed 

classes). 

lbs. 

102 

16 

127 

125.5 

129 

117.5 

17 

133.5 

133.5 

136 

127 

18 

138 

139 

141.5 

134 

19 

141 

143 

145.5 

139.5 

20 

144 

146.5 

142 

143 

21 

146 

142.5 

151 

145.5 

22 

147.5 

150 

153 

147 

23 

149 

151 

154 

148.5 

24 

150 

152 

155 

149.5 

25 

151 

152.5 

155 

150 

Strength   of  Man.  —  Observing  the   extraordinary 
displays  of  physical  power  and  energy  frequently  made 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      205 

by  savages,  scientific  men  were  long  of  opinion  that 
civilization  diminished  the  strength  of  the  human  frame. 
Other  circumstances  tended  to  foster  this  belief.  The 
negro  is  possessed  of  longer  arms,  or  at  least  fore-arms, 
than  the  Caucasian,  holding  in  this  respect,  it  is  worthy 
of  remark,  a  middle  place  between  the  white  and  the 
ape,  which  latter  creature  has  arms  of  great  length. 
"  I  measured,"  says  Mr.  White,  "  the  arms  of  about 
fifty  negroes,  men,  women,  and  children,  born  in  very 
different  climes,  and  found  the  lower  arm  longer  than 
in  Europeans,  in  proportion  to  the  upper  arm  and 
height  of  the  body."  The  same  writer  says  that  whites 
of  six  feet  four  inches,  whom  he  measured,  had  shorter 
arms  than  negroes  of  middle  size.  Similar  sources  of 
physical  superiority  appeared  to  voyagers  to  be  pos- 
sessed by  the  Pacific  Islanders,  the  Malays,  and  many 
other  uncultivated  races.  But  more  attentive  observa- 
tion has  disproved  the  supposition.  The  voyager 
Peron  took  with  him  to  the  southern  hemisphere  a 
dynamometer,  with  which  he  experimented  on  the  fol- 
lowing number  of  individuals  :  twelve  natives  of  Van 
Diemen's  Land,  seventeen  of  New  Holland,  fifty-six 
of  the  island  of  Timor,  —  a  fine  race  of  men,  —  seven- 
teen Frenchmen,  and  fourteen  Englishmen.  The  fol- 
lowing numbers  express  the  mean  result  in  each  case, 
the  strength  of  the  arms  and  loins  being  respectively 
put  to  the  test.  It  is  by  lifting  a  weight  that  the 
strength  of  the  loins  is  tested  with  the  dynamometer. 


XX.— 18 


206     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


Mea7i  Siren 

gth. 

Arma. 

Loiaa. 

Kilosrammes. 

Myriogrammes. 

1. 

Van  Diemen  natives, 

50.6 

... 

2. 

New  Hollanders, 

-     50.8 

10.2 

3. 

Timorians, 

58.7 

11.6 

4. 

Frenchmen,    - 

-     69.2 

15.2 

5. 

Englishmen, 

71.4 

16.3 

The  highest  power  of  arm  shown  by  any  of  the  Van 
Diemen  natives  was  60  ;  by  the  New  Hollanders,  62  ; 
while  the  lowest  in  the  English  trials  was  63,  and  the 
highest  83.  In  lumbar  power,  or  that  of  the  loins,  the  • 
highest  point  reached  by  a  New  Hollander  was  13; 
the  lowest  of  the  English  was  12.7,  and  the  highest 
21.3. 

"  These  results,"  says  Mr.  Lawrence,  "  offer  the 
best  answer  to  the  declamations  on  the  degeneracy  of 
man.  The  attribute  of  superior  strength,  so  boldly  as- 
sumed by  the  eulogists  of  the  savage  state,  has  never 
been  questioned  or  doubted.  Although  we  have  been 
consoled  for  this  inferiority  by  an  enumeration  of  the 
many  precious  benefits  derived  from  civilization,  it  has 
always  been  felt  as  a  somewhat  degrading  disadvan- 
tage. Bodily  strength  is  a  concomitant  of  good  health, 
which  is  produced  and  supported  by  a  regular  supply 
of  wholesome  and  nutritious  food,  and  by  active  occu- 
pation. The  industrious  and  well-fed  middle  classes 
of  a  civilized  community  may  be  reasonably  expected 
to  surpass,  in  this  endowment,  the  miserable  savages, 
who  are  never  well  fed,  and  too  frequently  depressed 
by  absolute  want  and  all  other  privations." 

Proper  and  extended  comparisons  are  yet  to  be  m^de 


GEOGRAl'inCAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     207 

of  the  relative  physical  power  of  the  various  Caucasian 
nations.  The  following  table  of  Professor  Forbes  gives 
us  at  least  a  glimpse  at  the  comparative  strengths  of 
English,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Belgians  :  — 

Lumiar  Strength  in  Pounds. 


Age. 

English. 

Scotch. 

Irish. 

Belgians. 

15 

... 

280 

... 

204 

16 

336 

314 

236 

17 

352 

340 

369 

260 

18 

364 

360 

389 

280 

19 

378 

378 

404 

296 

20 

385 

392 

416 

310 

21 

392 

402 

423 

322 

22 

397 

410 

427 

330 

23 

401 

417 

430 

335 

24 

402 

421 

431 

337 

25 

403 

423 

432 

339 

The  difference  in  lumbar  strength  between  men  and 
women  is  remarkable,  as  shown  in  Quetelet's  table. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  when  both  attain  the  max- 
imum of  lumbar  strength,  the  woman  is  deficient  by 
more  than  one  half. 

Menial  Power  of  Man.  —  It  is  only  a  recapitu- 
lation of  what  has  been  often  stated  to  say,  that 
great  differences  of  mental  character  are  exhibited  by 
the  various  races  of  mankind.  The  black  intertropical 
nations  generally  are  decidedly  the  lowest  in  the  intel- 
lectual scale.  They  are  commonly  characterized  by 
great  indolence,  as  well  as  by  gross  barbarism  and  su- 
perstition. The  idea  of  a  social  community  has  made 
but  a  small  advance  imongst  them,  though  more  amongst 


208      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

some  tribes  than  others.  The  lowest  of  the  class  are 
to  be  found  in  Australia  and  some  of  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific.  Yet  there  is  scarcely  any  tribe  of  blacks  so 
mean,  but  they  possess  certain  traits  of  mind  calculated 
to  produce  respect,  being  in  some  instances  surprising- 
ly ingenious  in  fabricating  particular  articles,  or  in  the 
management  of  canoes  and  the  use  of  warlike  imple- 
ments. 

The  red  races  of  North  America  are  a  considerably 
superior  race  to  the  negroes.  Their  associations  for 
war  and  other  purposes  are  upon  a  more  complicated 
scale ;  they  show  many  remarkable  traits  of  ingenuity  ,» 
and  certain  tribes  have,  at  some  periods,  made  grea* 
progress  in  civilization. 

The  Mongolians,  and  the  Indian  branch  of  the  Cau- 
casians, must  be  considered  next  in  the  scale.  Thej 
have  formed  great  states,  and  made  advances  in  the 
arts  and  in  science  ;  but  a  stationary  character  appears 
to  be  impressed  on  them  all,  and  ages  pass  without 
their  manifesting  the  slightest  moral  or  political  im- 
provement. The  Malayan  variety  exhibits  a  somewhat 
inferior  character  to  the  IMongolians,  but  not  so  differ- 
ent as  to  call  for  special  notice. 

The  Caucasian  variety,  as  a  whole,  stands  greatly 
above  all  the  rest.  It  is  characterized  by  superior  sa- 
gacity and  sentiment,  and,  above  all,  by  a  progressive 
character  which  other  races  have  only  shown  in  a  very 
limited  degree.  The  social  arrangements  formed  by 
some  branches  of  this  race  are  the  most  calculated  to 
insure  the  general  happiness  which  have  ever  been 
known.  Their  industry  and  perseverance,  aided  by 
the  lights  which  they  have  deduced  from  science,  have 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  KAKTH.     209 

led  to  the  production  of  an  amount  of  wealth  beyond 
the  dreams  of  Orientals.  Their  benevolence  has  caused 
them  not  only  to  found  institutions  calculated  to  suc- 
cour the  poor  and  afllicted  in  their  own  country,  but  to 
exert  themselves  for  the  benefit  of  other  nations  in  ev- 
ery region  of  the  globe.  Wherever  this  race  sets  its 
foot,  it  makes  itself  master,  —  a  result  directly  flowing 
from  its  superior  energy,  skill,  and  perseverance. 
Amongst  the  branches  of  the  Caucasian  variety,  con- 
siderable differences  prevail.  The  Indian  branch  ap- 
proaches to  the  Mongolian  variety,  and  it  is  in  the 
Pelasgian  branch  in  ancient,  and  the  Teutonic  or  Ger- 
man in  modern  times,  that  we  find  the  utmost  devel- 
opment of  the;  finest  faculties  of  the  species. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  phrenological  doc- 
trine in  its  details,  it  is  at  least  scarcely  possible  to 
dissent  from  the  moderate  conclusion  of  Dr.  Prichard, 
that  "  fully  developed  brains  indicate  great  intellect." 
Hence,  leaving  out  of  the  question  the  connection  of 
the  development  of  the  skull  with  that  of  the  facial 
bones,  the  simple  capacity  of  the  cerebral  case  becomes 
in  itself  a  matter  of  the  highest  consequence.  We  hap- 
pily have  it  in  our  power,  from  the  experiments  of  a 
most  accurate  inquirer.  Professor  Morton,  to  determine 
the  comparative  capacity  of  the  skulls  of  all  the  vari- 
eties of  mankind. 

Having  obtained  a  considerable  number  of  the  skulls 
of  the  various  races  of  men.  Dr.  Morton  measured  their 
internal  capacity  by  means  of  white  pepper  seed,  and 
found  the  following  results  :  —  , 

14       18* 


Races. 

No.  of 

Slvlllls. 

1. 

Caucasian, 

52 

2. 

Mongolian, 

10 

3. 

Malay, 

18 

4. 

Aboriginal  ) 
American  ^ 

147 

5. 

Ethiopian, 

29 

210     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

!!^!;?,"„  *^i*n    I-argest  in      Smallest  in 
«U„cia       ^he  series.       ihe  senea. 

87     109    .  75 
83     ^S  69 

81     89     64 

80    100     60 

78     94     65 

It  thus  appears  that  the  aboriginal  Americans  rank 
fourth  with  respect  to  the  size  of  their  brains,  the  Ethi- 
opians being  lowest,  and  the  Caucasians  highest. 

This  result  is  certainly  the  precise  one  to  be  ex- 
pected, considering  the  capacity  of  the  cranium  as  an 
index  of  intellectual  power.  The  Caucasian  race, 
which  stands  highest  in  the  scale,  is  that  which  has 
produced  the  most  civilized  nations  ;  while  the  Mongo- 
lian, the  next  in  order  of  capacity  of  cranium,  has  pro- 
duced a  number  of  nations  which  remain  at  a  fixed  point 
in  semi-civilization.  The  Malay  is  a  degree  more  bar- 
barous, and  the  American  and  Ethiopian  the  most  bar- 
barous of  all.  We  shall  hereafter  more  particularly  no- 
tice the  division  of  the  human  family  into  distinct  races. 

Pojmlation.  —  There  has  been  great  diversity  in 
the  estimates  of  different  persons  as  to  the  population 
of  the  globe.  The  following,  from  "  The  Weimar 
Almanac,"  is  a  medium  calculation. 


Population. 

Extent. 

Pop.  per 
sq.  mile. 

Europe, 

221,t)OG,000 

3,134,652 

61 

Asia, 

4G], 190,000 

17,238,188 

26.7 

Africa, 

107,61  r,,ono 

10,787,063 

9.9 

America, 

■  42.164,000 

14,755,006 

2.8 

Oceanica, 

2,61)5,000 

3,347,840 

0.8 

Total, 

.  835,578,000 

49,263,448 

16.9 

GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH,     211 

"  Every  generation  is  a  direct  product  of  the  7nar- 
riages  in  the  preceding  generation ;  that  is,  the  num- 
ber of  the  existing  generation,  of  all  ages,  is  the  product 
of  the  number  of  all  the  marriages  in  the  past  genera- 
tion by  the  average  number  of  children,  3.7  or  3.8,  pro- 
duced by  a  marriage.  Therefore,  the  number  of 
marriages  in  any  year,  by  the  ratio  of  children,  is  the 
number  for  every  year  of  the  next  generation  ;  and  this 
annual  number  into  the  years  in  a  generation  is  the 
whole  population  of  the  next  generation." 

"  The  population  of  the  globe,"  says  Sir  Richard 
Phillips,  "  for  the  last  century  was  estimated  at  one 
thousand  millions,  but  modern  calculators  reduce  it  to 
about  eight  hundred.  If  a  doubling  took  place  every 
twenty-five  years,  according  to  an  absurd  theory,  the 
population  in  1800  could  have  been  but  three  hundred 
millions ;  in  1775,  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions ; 
in  1750,  but  seventy-five  millions;  and  in  1700,  but 
eighteen  and  three-fourths  millions ;  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second,  but  nine  and  seven-eighths  mil- 
lions, and  in  the  time  of  James  the  First,  even  when 
public  writers  estimated  the  population  at  one  thousand 
millions,  there  ought  only  to  have  been  Adam  and  Eve 
in  Moses'  paradise.  Comparing  deaths  with  births, 
doubling,  under  favorable  circumstances,  really  takes 
place  in  only  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  years.  But 
it  may  be  doubted,  whether,  in  the  aggregate,  the  earth 
was  not  as  populous  in  the  days  of  Augustus  as  at 
present." 

Taking  the  population  of  the  globe  at  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  millions,  and  supposing  a  generation  to  con- 
tain thirty  years,  which  is  the  usual  estimate,  it  appears 


212     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

that  26,666,666  persons  are  born  every  year,  and  of 
course  the  same  number  die  every  year;  73,059 
die,  and  73,059  are  born  every  day;  51  die  every 
minute,  and  51  are  born  every  minute ;  and  nearly 
one  dies  and  is  born  every  second  ! 

If  we  suppose  the  average  population  of  the  globe  to 
have  been  half  what  it  is  now,  from  the  creation,  six 
thousand  years  ago,  to  the  present  time,  the  number 
that  have  lived  is  eighty  billions ! 

Phillips  makes  the  following  curious  calculation  :  — 
"  In  regard  to  the  physical  bulk  of  the  contemporary 
population,  —  since  nine  middle-sized  persons  can  stand 
within  a  square  yard,  so  a  single  square  mile  of 
3,097,600  square  yards,  or  27,878,400  feet,  would  hold 
a  greater  number  than  the  population  of  Great  Britain ! 
And  if  there  are  thirty  six  times  this  number  on  the 
globe,  the  whole  would  occupy  an  area  but  six  miles 
each  way  !  Then,  as  there  are  fifty  millions  of  square 
miles  of  land,  —  8,333,333  times  six  miles, —  so  two 
hundred  generations  of  men  reduced  to  dust,  and  pressed 
to  the  density  of  soil,  would  be  but  eighteen  inches  of 
coating  to  the  thirty-six  miles,  and,  of  course,  but  the 
450,000th  of  an  inch  scattered  over  the  whole  surface. 
But  if  a  man's  body  is  renewed  fifty  times  during  life, 
even  then,  it  would  form  soil  but  the  9,000th  of  an 
inch  ;  so  that  the  species  homo  have  afforded  in  reality 
but  little  manure  to  the  earth's  surface." 

"  If  it  be  asked,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  whether 
the  human  race,  and  the  present  system  of  animal 
economy  will  endure  as  long  as  the  globe  and  its  solar 
reactions,  we  have  no  data  but  references  to  the  past. 
We  see  races,  kinds,  and  forms,  once  covering  the  sur- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      213 

face,  now  no  more.  Wo  find  ages  of  shelly  beings,  of 
reptiles,  of  pachyderma,  of  gigantic  creatures,  &c.  We 
now  find  races  reacting  on  an  atmosphere  as  seventy- 
nine  to  twenty-one,  and  sustained  by  water  eleven  to 
seventy-nine.  Will  these  proportions  last  ?  Does  not 
oxygen  increase  and  hasten  life,  and  does  not  water 
dessiccate .''  We  see  the  human  race  flowing  from  the 
exhausted  East  to  the  West,  portentous  of  results 
when  the  tour  is  completed.  We  see  species  disap- 
pear, and  behold  every  proof  that  the  circle  of  exist- 
ence resembles  an  endless  spiral,  changing  forms  at 
every  deflection  of  its  solemn  course  !  " 

So  far  as  the  preceding  writer  argues  from  the 
exhausted  state  of  the  old  world,  we  need  pay  little 
regard  to  his  inferences  ;  but,  when  we  reflect  that  hu- 
man life  depends  upon  an  exact  mixture  of  certain 
gases  in  the  atmosphere,  and  that  a  slight  alteration  of 
these  proportions  would  at  once  annihilate  the  whole 
human\  race,  we  can  easily  see  that,  without  flood  or 
fire,  mankind  may  become  extinct,  at  the  slightest  ex- 
ercise of  the  Almighty's  will.  If  it  be  true  that  the 
whole  interior  of  the  earth  is  a  molten  mass,  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  and  if  we  further  reflect  upon 
the  mighty  revolutions  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
structure  of  the  globe's  surface,  sometimes  heaving  up 
whole  continents  from  the  bed  of  the  sea,  and  again 
drowning  them  in  the  fathomless  brine  of  the  ocean,  we 
shall  see  that  human  destiny,  for  ages  to  come,  is  a 
subject  upon  which  calculation  is  uncertain,  if  not  vain. 
If,  indeed,  we  may  judge  from  the  past,  and  consider 
the  whole  plan  of  Providence  as  far  as  we  can  read  it, 
we  may  fairly  conclude  that  the   human   race   is  but 


214     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

upon  the  threshold  of  its  existence,  and  as  we  see  them 
advancing  in  population,  arts,  knowledge,  and  happi- 
ness, we  may  cherish  the  belief  that  man  in  his  future 
career  is  to  cover  the  whole  earth  with  science  and 
civilization. 

"  Every  individual,"  it  is  said,  "  has  two  parents  ; 
these  have  had  four,  the  four  have  had  eight ;  and  so 
on  in  a  geometrical  series.  Hence,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
determine  the  comixture  of  families,  in  past  and  in 
future  ages,  taking  every  generation  as  forty  years,  c" 
five  generations  in  two  centuries,  or  twenty-five  in  a 
thousand  years.  Two  hundred  years  previously,  or 
five  generations  ago,  the  ancestors  of  eveiy  living  indi- 
vidual were  2',  or  32  persons ;  four  hundred  years  ago, 
2^  or  1,024;  six  hundred  years  ago,  2'%  or  32,768; 
eight  hundred  years  ago,  2"",  or  1,050,000  nearly; 
one  thousand  years  ago,  2'',  or  33,548,000.  So  that 
this  series,  in  duplicate  ratio,  connects  every  living 
person  in  Britain  with  1,050,000  in  the  age  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor,  and  with  the  whole  population 
in  the  age  of  Alfred.  And,  as  it  is  in  looking  back- 
ward, so  it  is  as  to  futurity.  In  one  thousand  years 
hence,  33,548,000  will  be  the  posterity  of  every  living 
parent  of  every  child  who  has  children.  The  comixture 
may  not  be  complete,  but  such  is  the  tendency,  and,  in 
degree  the  effect." 

Habitatiojis  of  Man.  —  Man,  born  helpless,  availed 
himself  of  his  instincts  and  imitations  of  other  animals 
to  seek  asylums  in  caves.  Born  with  a  naked  skin,  he 
found  convenience  in  clothing  himself  in  the  skins  of 
animals.  By  a  transition,  not  yet  complete  as  to  large 
portions  of  his  genus,  he  raised  his  caves  above  ground 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  215 

and  became  an  architect ;  and,  by  combining  fibrous 
materials,  he  became  a  manufacturer.  His  taste  led 
him  to  adopt  difTerent  styles  of  building,  and  his  mate- 
rials different  fabrics.  But,  nevertheless,  the  varied 
progression  proves  that  certain  species  had  more  genius 
^nd  aptitude  than  others  ;  and  this  soon  led  to  differ- 
ent modes  of  life,  which  have  tended  to  produce  those 
varieties  of  complexion,  form,  and  character,  which  we 
see  in  the  different  nations  of  the  earth. 

Food  of  Man. — It  has  been  often  contended,  that 
man  was  made  to  eat  only  vegetable  food,  and  that  it  is 
an  abuse  of  his  nature  to  take  flesh.  "  You  ask  me," 
says  Plutarch,  "  for  what  reason  Pythagoras  abstained 
from  eating  the  flesh  of  brutes  ?  For  my  part,  I  am 
astonished  to  think  what  appetite  first  induced  man  to 
taste  of  a  dead  carcass  ;  or  what  motive  could  suggest 
the  notion  of  nourishing  himself  with  the  putrefying 
flesh  of  dead  animals." 

"  Nothing,"  says  Pope,  "  can  be  more  shocking  or 
horrid  than  one  of  our  kitchens,  sprinkled  with  blood, 
and  abounding  with  the  cries  of  creatures  expiring,  or 
with  the  limbs  of  dead  animals,  scattered,  or  hung  up 
here  and  there.  It  gives  one  the  image  of  a  giant's 
den  in  romance,  bestrewed  with  scattered  heads  and 
mangled  limbs." 

Notwithstanding  these  and  other  high  authorities,  the 
general  conclusion  is,  that  man  was  designed  by  his 
Creator  to  be  omnivorous.  All  savage  nations  appear 
to  have  been  cannibals  in  some  stage  of  their  progress. 
Diogenes  asserted,  that  we  might  as  well  eat  the  flesh 
of  men  as  the  flesh  of  other  animals.  The  Greeks  in- 
form us  that  it  was  a  primitive  and  universal  custom 


216  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Some  of  their  gods  lived  on  human  flesh,  and  the 
Cyclops  did  the  same.  Aristotle  and  Herodotus  name 
various  nations  who  preferred  human  flesh  to  that  of 
aniuials.  The  Giagas,  and  several  African  nations, 
have  the  same  preference ;  and  we  remember  the 
practices  at  Hawaii,  New  Zealand,  6z;c.  Human 
flesh  has  the  flavor  of  hog's  flesh  and  veal,  and  we 
have  heard  of  a  native  Brazilian  woman,  converted 
by  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  who,  when  sick,  could  think 
of  nothing  she  could  eat  but  the  fingers  of  a  Tapuya 
boy !  Voltaire  says,  that  in  1725  he  saw  four  savages 
from  the  Mississippi,  one  of  whom,  a  female,  admitted 
that  she  had  eaten  men ;  but  contended  that  victors 
ought  to  have  the  preference  over  wild  beasts.  St. 
Jerome  states,  that  he  saw  Scotchmen  in  the  Roman 
armies  in  Gaul  who  fed  on  human  flesh  as  a  delicacy. 

A  female,  who  in  1829  was  sixty-two  years  of  age, 
and  resided  at  Pynacre,  near  Delft,  had,  from  disease, 
not  eaten  any  thing  since  1818,  nor  drank  any  thing 
since  1820.  Total  exhaustion  was  prevented  by  damp 
wrappers.  Several  instances  have  been  known  of  per- 
sons who  have  lived  without  drink  for  several  years. 
Total  abstinence  from  food  above  seven  days  is  gen- 
erally fatal  to  man  ;  but  there  are  instances  of  surviving 
after  a  longer  period.  A  religious  fanatic,  in  1789, 
determined  to  fast  forty  days,  but  died  on  the  sixteenth. 

In  1800,  a  French  prisoner,  at  Liverpool,  exhibited 
a  most  extraordinary  propensity  to  devour  nauseous 
diet,  particularly  cats,  of  which  in  one  year  he  eat  one 
hundred  and  seventy-four,  many  of  them  while  alive. 

An  Esquimaux  boy,  supplied  by  Captain  Pany,  ate 
in  one  day  ten  and  a  quarter  pounds  of  solid  food,  and 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  217 

drank  of  various  liquids  a  gallon  and  a  half.  A  man 
of  the  same  nation  ate  ten  pounds  of  solids,  including 
two  candles,  and  drank  two  gallons.  Yet  they  were 
neither  of  them  over  four  and  a  half  feet  high.  A  sol- 
dier, aged  seventeen,  named  Tarare,  ate  twenty-four 
pounds  of  leg  of  beef  in  twcn'y-four  hours,  and,  on 
another  occasion,  all  the  dinner  prepared  for  fifteen. 

Of  all  rapacious  animals,  says  Smellie,  man  is 
the  most  universal  destroyer.  The  destruction  of  car- 
nivorous quadrupeds,  birds,  and  insects,  is  in  general 
limited  to  particular  kinds.  But  the  rapacity  of  man 
has  hardly  any  limitation.  His  empire  over  the  other 
animals  which  inhabit  this  globe  is  almost  universal. 
Of  some  of  the  quadruped  tribes,  as  the  horse,  the  dog, 
and  the  cat,  he  makes  domestic  slaves  ;  and  though,  in 
this  country,  none  of  these  species  are  used  for  food, 
he  either  obliges  them  to  labor  for  him,  or  keeps  them 
as  sources  of  pleasure  and  amusement.  From  other 
quadrupeds,  as  the  ox,  the  sheep,  and  the  goat,  he  de- 
rives innumerable  advantages.  The  ox  kind,  in  partic- 
ular, after  receiving  the  emoluments  of  their  labor  and 
fertility,  he  rewards  with  death,  and  then  feeds  upon 
their  carcasses.  Many  other  species,  though  not  com- 
monly used  for  food,  are  daily  massacred  by  millions 
for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  luxury,  and  caprice. 
Myriads  of  quadrupeds  arc  annually  destroyed  for  the 
sake  of  ihe'ir  furs,  their  hides,  their  odoriferous  secre- 
tions, &c. 

Over  the  feathered  tribes  the  dominion  of  man  is  not 

less  extensive.    There  are  few  species  in  the  numerous 

and  diversified  class  of  birds  which  he  either  does  not 

or  may  not  employ  for  the  nourishment  of  his  body. 

XX.— 19 


21  iJ  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

By  his  sagacity  and  address  he  has  been  enabled  to  do- 
mesticate many  of  the  more  prolific  and  delicious  spe- 
cies, as  turkeys,  geese,  and  the  various  kinds  of  poultry. 
T'lese  he  multiplies  without  end,  and  devours  at  pleasure. 

Neither  do  the  inhabitants  of  the  waters  escape  the 
rapacity  of  man.  Rivers,  lakes,  and  even  the  ocean 
Itself,  feel  -the  power  of  his  empire,  and  are  forced  to 
supply  him  with  provisions.  Neither  air  nor  water 
can  defend  against  the  ingenuity,  the  art,  and  the  de- 
structive industry  of  the  human  species.  Man  may  be 
said  even  to  have  domesticated  some  species.  In  arti- 
ficial ponds,  he  feeds  and  rears  carp,  tench,  perch,  trout, 
and  other  species,  and  with  them  occasionally  furnishes 
his  table. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  insects  and  reptiles, 
some  of  which  have  a  most  disgusting  aspect,  could  not 
have  excited  the  human  appetite.  But  we  learn  from 
experience,  that,  in  every  region  of  the  earth,  many 
insects,  which  inhabit  both  the  earth  and  the  waters, 
are  esteemed  as  delicate  articles  of  luxury.  Even  the 
viper,  though  its  venom  be  deleterious,  escapes  not  the 
all-devouring  jaws  of  man. 

Thus  man  holds  and  too  often  exercises  a  tyrannical 
dominion  over  almost  the  whole  of  the  brute  creation ; 
not  because  he  is  the  strongest  of  all  animals,  but  be- 
cause his  intellect,  though  of  a  similar  nature,  is  vastly 
superior  to  that  of  the  most  sagacious  of  the  less  fa- 
vored tribes.  He  reigns  over  the  other  animals,  be- 
cause the  powers  of  his  mind  are  more  extensive.  He 
overcomes  force  by  ingenuity,  and  swiftness  by  art 
and  persevering  industry.  But  the  empire  of  man  over 
the  brute  creation  is  not  absolute.     Some  species  elude 


GEOGKAl'IIICAL    VIEW    OF   THE    EARTH.  219 

his  power  by  the  rapidity  of  their  flight,  by  the  obscu- 
rity of  their  retreats,  and  by  the  element  in  which  they 
hve.  Others  escape  him  by  the  minuteness  of  their 
bodies ;  and,  instead  of  acknowledging  their  sovereign, 
others  boldly  attack  liim  with  open  hostility.  He  is 
also  insulted  and  injured  by  the  stings  of  insects  and  by 
the  poisonous  bites  of  serpents. 

In  other  respects,  man's  empire,  though  compara- 
tively great,  is  very  much  limited.  He  has  no  influence 
on  the  universe,  on  the  motions  and  aflections  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  or  on  the  revolution  of  the  globe 
which  he  inhabits.  Neither  has  he  a  general  dominion 
over  animals,  vegetables,  or  minerals.  His  power 
reaches  not  species,  but  is  confined  to  individuals. 
Every  order  of  beings  moves  on  in  its  course,  perishes, 
or  is  renewed,  by  the  irresistible  power  of  nature.  Even 
man  himself,  hurried  along  by  the  general  torrent  of 
time  and  of  nature,  cannot  prolong  his  existence.  He 
is  obliged  to  submit  to  the  universal  law,  and,  like  all 
other  organized  beings,  he  is  born,  grows  to  maturity, 
and  dies. 

Though  man  has  been  enabled  to  subdue  the  animal 
creation  by  the  superior  power  of  his  mind,  his  em- 
pire, like  all  other  empires,  could  not  be  firmly  estab- 
lished previous  to  the  institution  of  numerous  societies. 
Almost  the  whole  of  his  power  is  derived  from  society. 
It  matures  his  reason,  gives  exertion  to  his  genius,  and 
unites  his  forces.  Before  the  formation  of  large  socie- 
ties, man  was,  perhaps,  the  most  helpless  and  the  least 
formidable  of  all  animals.  Naked  and  destitute  of 
arms,  to  him  the  earth  was  only  an  immense  desert, 
peopled  by  strange  and  rapacious  monsters,  by  whom 


220     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

he  was  often  devoured.  Even  long  after  tliis  period, 
history  informs  us  that  the  first  heroes  were  destroyers 
of  wild  beasts.  But  after  the  human  species  had  multi- 
plied and  spread  over  the  earth,  and  when,  by  means 
of  society  and  the  arts,  man  was  enabled  to  conquer  a 
considerable  part  of  the  globe,  he  forced  the  wild 
beasts  gradually  to  retire  to  the  deserts.  He  reduced 
the  number  of  the  voracious  and  noxious  species.  He 
opposed  the  powers  and  the  dexterity  of  one  animal  to 
those  of  another.  Some  he  subdued  by  address,  and 
others  by  force.  In  this  manner,  he  in  process  of  time 
acquired  to  himself  perfect  security,  and  established  an 
empire  that  has  no  other  limits  than  inaccessible  soli- 
tudes, burning  sands,  frozen  mountains,  or  obscure  cav- 
erns, which  are  occupied  as  retreats  by  a  ^cw  species 
of  ferocious  animals. 

Prodigies.  —  Sir  Jeffrey  Hudson,  the  dwarf,  was  but 
eighteen  inches  in  heiglit  till  the  age  of  thirty,  and 
then  he  rose  to  thirty-nine  inches.  Bebe,  the  Pole, 
was  only  thirty-two  inches  at  his  death,  aged  twenty- 
three,  and  slender  in  faculties.  Boruwlaski  *  was  only 
twenty-eight  inches  at  twenty-two,  yet  a  man  of  tal- 
ents. General  Tom  Thumb,  now  living,  is  about 
twenty  inches,  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  In  Ava,  a  man 
was  lately  living,  covered  from  head  to  foot  with  hair. 
The  hair  on  the  face  was  shaggy,  and  about  eight 
inches  long.  On  the  breast  and  shoulders  it  was  four 
to  five.  At  Ava,  he  married  a  Burmese  woman,  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters ;  the  eldest  resembled  her 

*  For  a  life  of  Boruwlaski,  and  otiicr  dwarfs,  sec  "  Curiosities 
of  Human  Nature." 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF     THE    EARTH.  221 

moiher,  but  the  youngest  was  covered  with  hau-  like 
her  father. 

The  foot  of  a  Chinese  female,  from  the  heel  to  tht 
great  toe,  measures  only  four  inches  ;  the  great  toe  is 
bent  abruptly  backwards,  and  its  extremity  pointed  di- 
rectly upwards ;  while  the  phalanges  of  the  other  toes 
are  doubled  in  beneath  the  sole  of  the  foot,  there  being 
scarcely  any  breadth  across  the  foot,  where  it  is  natu- 
rally broadest.  The  heel,  instead  of  projecting  back- 
wards, descends  in  a  straight  line  from  the  bones  of  the 
leg,  and  imparts  a  singular  appearance  to  the  foot,  as  if 
it  were  kept  in  a  state  of  permanent  extension.  From 
the  doubling  in  of  the  toes  into  the  sole  of  the  foot,  the 
external  edge  of  the  foot  is  formed,  in  a  great  measure, 
by  the  extremities  of  the  metatarsal  bones  ;  and  a  deep 
cleft  or  hollow  appears  in  the  soles. 

A  Ucephalous  or  double-headed  child,  named  Chris- 
tina Rilta,  lately  excited  curiosity  in  Paris.  She  was 
born  in  1829,  of  well-formed  parents,  and  christened  at 
the  left  head  by  the  name  of  Christina,  and  at  the  right 
by  that  of  Ritta.  Ritta  was  more  feeble  than  Christina, 
and  in  journeying  suffered  much  more  than  the  other. 
Christina  Ritta  is  double  from  the  head  to  the  pelvis. 
The  two  vertebral  columns  were  distinct  to  their  lower 
extremity,  —  that  is  to  the  coccys.  Between  the  pelvis 
it  is  simple.  Thus  there  were  two  heads  resting  upon 
two  necks. 

The  celebrated  Siamese  twins,  now  living  and  mar- 
ried in  North  Carolina,  are  united  by  a  cartilaginous 
bsuid,  attached  to  the  breast.* 

*See  "  Curiosities  of  Kuman  Nature." 
19* 


222      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Voice  of  Man.  —  Though  most  anhiials  utter  sounds 
more  or  less  significant,  man  is  the  only  being  on 
whom  a  power  of  articulate  speech  is  bestowed.  This 
wonderful  gift  is  the  foundation  of  written  language ; 
it  is  not  only  the  instrument  by  which  man  commu- 
nicates his  thoughts  and  feelings,  but  the  origin  of 
the  means  by  which  he  records  his  knowledge.  The 
difference  between  the  inarticulate  sounds  of  mere 
animals  and  human  speech  may  be  partially  conceived 
by  reflecting,  that,  while  the  former  only  extends  to  the 
communication  of  a  few  ideas,  the  latter  is  the  founda- 
tion of  that  immense  mass  of  learning  recorded  in  the 
millions  of  books  now  extant.  Speech  is  the  source 
from  which  springs  history,  science,  poetry,  and  uni- 
versal literature ;  and  it  is  through  its  instrumentality 
that  the  intellectual  powers  necessary  to  produce  thorn 
are  developed.  If  mankind  had  been  dumb,  they  had 
been  but  little  above  an  ingenious  race  of  beavers. 

Ventriloquism.^ — or  belly -speaking, —  which  has 
been  considered  a  gift  depending  on  peculiar  organs,  is 
now  universally  understood  to  be  only  a  high  degree 
of  mimicry,  aided  by  tricks  to  cheat  the  imagination. 
It  has  greatly  enhanced  the  wonder  excited  by  ventril- 
oquism, that  the  speaker  utters  his  sounds  without  mov- 
ing the  lips,  —  a  power  acquired  by  art.  The  various 
kinds  of  divination,  by  means  of  what  was  considered  a 
familiar  spirit,  among  the  nations  of  antiquity,  are 
now  suj)posed  to  have  been  ventriloquial  juggles.  The 
practice  of  this  kind  of  divination  now  exists  among  the 
Esquimaux,  and  is  also  common  among  Eastern  na- 
tions. 

Slecj).  —  This  is  one  of  the  most  curious  phenomena 


3E0GRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      223 

of  animal  life,  and  is  shared  by  man  with  the  other 
mammalia  and  birds.  The  lower  animals,  indeed, 
rest  from  time  to  time,  and  withdraw  themselves  from 
the  visible  world,  but,  having  no  external  eyelids, 
t'ney  cannot  exclude  all  influence  from  without.  Fish 
conceal  themselves  behind  a  stone,  or  near  the  bank 
of  a  river,  crocodiles  hide  themselves  in  the  mud,  and 
tortoises  creep  into  holes.  The  higher  animals  like- 
wise usually  seek  out  some  place  of  retirement  to 
sleep  in,  and  dispose  themselves  in  a  posture  which  ei- 
ther is  maintained  with  little  muscular  effort,  or  is 
favorable  to  the  preservation  of  warmth. 

The  approach  of  sleep  is  announced  by  diminished 
activity  of  the  mind  and  loss  of  the  power  of  attention. 
The  senses  become  blunted  to  external  impressions, 
and  we  feel  an  unconquerable  desire  for  stillness  and 
repose.  Our  ideas  grow  more  confused,  our  sensa- 
tions more  obscure,  our  sight  fails  us,  and,  if  our  ears 
still  perceive  sounds,  they  are  indistinct  and  seem  as 
though  distant.  The  eyelids  close,  the  joints  relax,  we 
instinctively  assume  an  easy  position,  and  fall  into  a 
sleep  which  at  first  is  deep,  then  soft  and  gentle,  and 
becomes  gradually  less  sound  as  the  time  for  waking 
approaches. 

Not  only  are  the  functions  of  organic  life  little  af- 
fected by  sleep,  but  even  those  of  animal  life  are  not 
in  a  state  of  complete  repose.  It  would  not  be  possi- 
ble to  make  a  dead  body  remain  in  those  postures 
which  we  assume  when  asleep,  and  our  eyelids  are  not 
closed  except  by  muscular  action.  Some  animals  sleep 
standing,  as  the  horse  ;  birds  do  so  also,  sometimes 
standing  on  one   leg.     When  very  weary,  we  sleep 


224  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAK'XH. 

even  in  the  most  constrained  positions ;  soldiers  have 
been  known  to  sleep  while  marching,  postillions  on 
horseback,  and  fiddlers  at  a  fair  have  continued  to  play 
even  when  through  weariness  they  had  fallen  asleep. 
The  numerous  instances  of  somnambulism  on  record 
show  how  high  a  degree  of  activity  is  compatible  with 
sleep. 

Animals  in  general  require  less  sleep  than  man ; 
thus,  for  instance,  four  hours  are  sufficient  for  the 
horse.  Those  animals  whose  blood  circulates  very 
rapidly,  whose  motions  are  peculiarly  energetic,  and 
their  senses  very  acute,  usually  sleep  more  lightly,  and 
for  a  shorter  time,  than  others.  The  timid  herbivorous 
animals  sleep  less,  and  less  profoundly,  than  the  bolder 
carnivora.  In  man  the  want  of  sleep  varies  in  differ- 
ent ages ;  the  new-born  infant  sleeps  almost  continual- 
ly, while  persons  in  middle  life  can  do  with  less  sleep 
than  children  or  very  old  persons,  and  women  require 
less  sleep  than  men.  From  six  to  eight  hours  a  day 
ai*e  usually  passed  in  sleep,  but  habit  exercises  a  great 
influence  in  determining  the  amount  of  repose  re- 
quired. John  Hunter  and  Frederic  the  Great  did  not 
sleep  more  than  four  hours  daily,  while  some  slug- 
gish persons  spend  nearly  half  their  time  in  bed.  In 
extreme  old  age  much  sleep  sometimes  becomes  neces- 
sary. De  Moinc,  when  eighty-three  years  old,  was 
awake  only  four  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  and 
Thomas  Parr,  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  was  almost 
constantly  asleep.  Children  sleep  very  soundly, —  old 
persons  are  easily  disturbed,  —  men  sleep  more  pro- 
foundly than  women,  —  and  sleep  s  always  sounder 
after  considerable  weariness. 


GEOGKAPKICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     225 

A  very  important  character  of  sleep  is  its  periodical 
return  once  in  every  twenty-four  hours.  The  idle  per- 
son sleeps  as  well  as  the  diligent,  who  has  passed  his 
time  in  exerting  his  powers  of  mind  or  body.  Sleep 
usually  occurs  at  night-time,  and  we  are  awake  during 
the  day,  but  the  day  may  become  the  time  for  sleep, 
and  the  night  for  watching,  if  a  person's  occupation  so 
require.  Many  animals  sleep  during  the  day,  and 
watch  or  pursue  their  prey  at  night.  We  cannot  then 
regard  the  periodical  return  of  sleep  as  dependent  on 
the  simple  alternation  of  day  and  night,  or  as  merely 
the  result  of  bodily  fatigue,  as  it  is  known  that  extreme 
weariness  will  prevent  sleep.  The  alternation  of  sleep 
and  waking  is  essentially  connected  with  something  in 
the  nature  of  animals  to  which  there  are  many  analo- 
gies. The  succession  of  the  seasons,  and  of  day  and 
night,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea,  the  daily  variations  in 
the  electricity  of  the  air,  in  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  ba- 
rometer, and  the  regular  declination  of  the  magnetic 
needle,  eastward  and  westward,  at  different  hours,  illus- 
trate the  same  law  of  periodical  action,  which  is  dis- 
played in  the  unvarying  alternation  of  sleep  and 
waking. 

Little  need  be  said  of  the  uses  of  sleep.  "  Nature's 
soft  nurse,"  it  invigorates  both  body  and  mind  when 
worn  out  by  toil,  and  the  rcc\irrence  of  sleep  in  the 
course  of  a  disease  is  one  of  the  most  favorable  signs 
of  returning  health.  After  a  night's  sleep  we  are  near- 
ly an  inch  taller  than  before ;  the  intervertebral  carti- 
lages, which  had  been  compressed  by  bearing  the 
weight  of  the  body  during  the  day,  having  regained 
their  natural  form  and  proportion.  The  nowers,  ex- 
15 


SOS  GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

hausted  by  an  intercourse  with  the  external  world, 
recover  themselves  during  sleep,  and  our  senses  in  the 
morning  are  alive  to  all  impressions.  It  is,  however, 
preeminently  the  rest  of  the  brain,  which,  when  fatigued 
with  the  constant  action  of  the  mind,  becomes  incapa- 
ble of  continuing  that  action,  just  as  the  eye,  if  long 
fixed  upon  one  point,  ceases  to  perceive  any  object 
distinctly. 

Since,  then,, sleep  is  not  a  mere  torpor  of  the  system 
induced  by  fatigue,  long  watching,  or  any  external 
cause,  but  a  natural  state,  whose  periodical  recurrence 
is  essential  to  the  harmonious  performance  of  our 
functions,  it  need  excite  in  us  no  surprise  to  find  that  in 
certain  animals  this  condition  lasts  for  a  long  time, 
even  for  months ;  and  that  in  it  the  activity  of  the  or- 
gans of  animal  life  is  suspended  more  completely  than 
m  diurnal  sleep.  To  this  state  the  name  of  winter 
sleep,  or  hybernation,  is  applied. 

Dreams.  —  These  are  trains  of  thought  presenting 
themselves  during  sleep.  Dogs  and  other  animals  are 
affected  by  dreams,  as  well  as  men.  The  dreamer  is 
introduced  into  a  kind  of  fairy  land,  where,  as  Addison, 
with  his  usual  elegance  and  felicity,  expresses  it,  "  The 
soul  converses  with  numberless  beings  of  her  own  cre- 
ation, and  is  transported  into  numberless  scenes  of  her 
own  raising ;  she  is  herself  the  theatre,  the  actor,  and 
the  beholder."  In  this  state,  when  reason  appears  for  a 
time  to  have  given  up  the  reins  to  fancy,  it  seems  as  if  a 
very  slight  variation  in  the  intensity  of  the  feeling,  or  in 
the  duration  of  the  delirium,  might  be  attended  with  fa- 
tal effects.  Sometimes,  a  deed  of  horror  is  supposed  to 
oe  done,  or  the  most  overwhelming  calamity  is  believed 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTH.  \:'di 

to  have  happened.  The  event  is  depicted  in  the  strong- 
est colors ;  it  is  actually  seen,  as  it  were,  to  have  hap- 
pened before  our  eyes ;  the  impression  made  upon  the 
mind  is  that  of  assured  conviction  of  its  truth,  accompa- 
nied with  the  most  intense  agony ;  a  moment  longer, 
and  the  brain  would  be  set  on  fire.  That  boundary, 
however,  is  never  passed.  A  provision  is  made  by 
which  the  very  violence  of  the  agitation  effects  the 
remedy,  and  the  dreamer  awakes,  with  a  heart  ready 
to  burst,  indeed,  or  with  nerves  strung  or  shaken  to  the 
very  verge  of  their  utmost  endurance  ;  but  the  phan- 
toms disappear,  the  anguish  subsides,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  mind  is  as  calm  and  serene  as  before. 

Lord  Brougham  tells  us,  that  in  a  state  of  dreaming 
all  the  bodily  functions  which  depend  upon  volition  are 
suspended ;  and  the  bodily  senses,  though  not  entirely 
in  a  state  of  abeyance,  become  very  obtuse.  But  this 
does  not  interrupt  the  activity  of  the  mind ;  on  the  con- 
trar}?-,  the  power  of  imagination,  and  the  celerity  with 
which  ideas  pass  through  the  mind,  are  increased  by 
this  cessation  of  communication  through  the  senses. 
The  mind,  therefore,  acts  vigorously,  when  the  powers 
of  the  body  are  resting ;  and  it  is  only  advancing 
another  step  to  suppose  that  it  can  act  nllogether  inde- 
pendently of  its  material  instrument,  and  survive  it. 
To  prove  the  extreme  agility  of  the  mental  powers, 
and  their  total  diversity  from  any  material  substances 
and  actions,  his  Lordship  enters  into  some  curious  details 
of  the  phenomena  of  dreaming,  which  incontcstably 
prove  that  it  sometimes  requires  but  an  exceedingly 
short  period  to  suggest  and  complete  a  long  train  of 
incidents.     "  A  puncture  made,"  says  he,  in  one  of  his 


228  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    T;1K    EAPTH. 

illustrations,  "  will  immediately  produce  a  long  dream, 
which  seems  to  terminate  in  some  such  accident  as 
that  the  sleeper  has  been  Avandering  through  a  wood, 
and  received  a  severe  wound  from  a  spear,  or  the  tooth 
of  a  wild  animal,  which,  at  the  same  instant,  awakes 
him.  A  gun  fired  in  one  instance,  during  the  alarm  of 
invasion,  made  a  military  man  at  once  dream  that  the 
enemy  had  landed,  that  he  ran  to  his  post,  and,  re- 
pairing to  the  scene  of  action,  was  present  when  the 
firet  discharge  took  place,  which  also  at  the  same  mo- 
ment awakened  him." 

From  these  facts.  Lord  Brougham  infers  the  "  in- 
finite rapidity  of  thought."  "  Mark,"  he  says,  "  what 
was  done  in  an  instant,  —  in  a  mere  point  of  time. 
The  sensation  of  the  pain  or  noise  beginning  is  con- 
veyed to  the  mind,  and  sets  it  thinking  of  many  things 
connected  with  such  sensations.  But  that  sensation  is 
lost  or  forgotten  for  a  portion  of  the  short  instant  dur- 
ing which  the  impression  lasts,  for  the  conclusion  of 
the  same  impression  gives  rise  to  a  new  set  of  ideas. 
The  walk  in  the  wood,  and  hunying  to  the  post,  are 
suggested  by  the  sensation  beginning.  Then  follow 
many  things  connected  with  that  sensation,  except 
that  they  grow  out  of  it ;  and  lastly  comes  the  wound 
and  the  broadside,  suggested  by  the  continuance  of  the 
sensation ;  while  all  the  time  this  continuance  has  been 
producing  an  effect  on  the  mind  wholly  different  from 
the  train  of  ideas  the  dream  consists  of,  —  nay,  destruc- 
tion of  that  train,  —  namely,  the  cfl'ect  of  rousing  it  from 
the  state  of  sleep,  and  restoring  its  dominion  over  the 
body.  Nay,  there  may  be  said  to  be  a  third  operation 
of  the  mind  going  on  at  the  same  time  with  these 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      229 

two, — a  looking  forward  to  the  denouement  of  the 
plot,  —  for  the  fancy  is  all  along  so  contriving  it  to  fit, 
by  terminating  in  some  event,  some  result  consistent 
with  the  impression  made  on  the  senses,  and  which  has 
Given  rise  to  the  whole  train  of  ideas." 

"  That  dreams,  like  any  other  occurrences  in  na- 
ture," says  Dr.  Good,  "  may  occasionally  become 
the  medium  of  some  providential  suggestion  or  super- 
natural communication,  I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to 
deny.  That  they  have  been  so  employed  in  former 
times  is  unquestionable ;  and  that  they  have  been  so 
employed  occasionally  among  all  nations  in  former 
times  is  highly  probable,  and  the  peculiar  liveliness 
with  which  the  trains  of  our  dreaming  ideas  are  usu- 
ally excited  seems  to  point  out  such  a  mode  of  com- 
munication as  peculiarly  eligible." 

As  confirming  this  view  of  the  subject,  "  The  Penny 
Cyclopaedia  "  furnishes  us  with  the  following  accounts, 
which  the  editors  deem  authentic.  "  In  the  night  of 
the  11th  of  May,  1812,  Mr.  Williams,  of  Scorrior 
House,  Cornwall,  awoke  his  wife,  and,  exceedingly  ag- 
itated, told  her  that  he  had  dreamed  that  he  was  in  the 
lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  saw  a  man  shot 
with  a  pistol,  by  a  gentleman  who  had  just  entered  the 
lobby,  who  was  said  to  be  the  Chancellor  ;  to  which 
Mrs.  W.  replied,  that  it  was  onlyfi  dream,  and  recom- 
mended him  to  go  to  sleep  as  soon  as  he  could.  He 
did  so,  but  shortly  after  again  woke  her,  and  said  that 
he  had  a  second  time  had  the  same  dream.  The 
game  vision  was  repeated  a  third  time  ;  on  which,  not- 
withstanding his  wife's  entreaties  that  he  would  lie 
quiet  and  endeavour  to  forget  it,  he  arose,  it  being  then 


230  GEOGKArniCAL    VIEW    OP    THE    EARTH. 

between  one  and  two  o'clock,  and  dressed  himself.  At 
breakfast,  the  dreams  were  the  sole  subject  of  conver- 
sation, and  in  the  forenoon,  Mr.  W.  went  to  Falmouth, 
where  he  related  the  particulars  of  them  to  all  his  ac- 
quaintance that  he  met. 

"  On  the  following  day,  Mr.  Tucker,  of  Trematon 
Castle,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  W., 
went  to  Scorrior  House  on  a  visit.  Mr.  W.  related  to 
Mr.  T.  the  circumstance  of  his  dreams  ;  on  which  Mr. 
T.  observed,  that  it  would  do  very  well  for  a  dream  to 
have  the  Chancellor  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Com- 
tnons,  but  that  he  would  not  be  found  there  in  reality. 
Mr.  T.  then  asked  what  sort  of  a  man  he  appeared  to 
be,  when  Mr.  W.  described  him  minutely.  Mr.  T.  re- 
plied, '  Your  description  is  not  at  all  that  of  the  Chan- 
cellor, but  is  very  exactly  that  of  Mr.  Perceval,  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.'  He  then  inquired 
whether  Mr.  W.  had  ever  seen  Mr.  Perceval,  and  was 
told  that  he  had  never  seen  him,  nor  had  ever  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  him  ;  and  further,  that  he  had  never 
been  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  his  life.  At  this 
moment,  they  heard  a  horse  gallop  to  the  door  of  the 
house,  and  immediately  after  a  son  of  Mr.  Williams 
entered  the  room,  and  said  that  he  had  galloped  out 
from  Truro,  having  seen  a  gentlemen  there  who  had 
come  by  that  evening's  mail  from  town,  and  who  had 
been  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the 
evening  of  the  11th,  when  a  man  called  Bellingham 
had  shot  Mr.  Perceval. 

"  After  the  astonishment  which  this  intelligence  cre- 
ated had  a  little  subsided,  Mr.  W.  described  most 
minutely  the  appearance  and  dress  of  the  man  that  he 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIF.W    OF    THE    EARTH.  23 

saw  in  his  dream  fire  a  pistol  at  the  Chancellor,  as  also 
of  the  Chancellor.  About  six  weeks  after,  Mr.  W.,  hav- 
ing business  in  town,  went,  accompanied  by  a  friend,  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  where,  as  has^  already  beer, 
observed,  he  had  never  been  before.  Upon  coming 
to  the  steps  at  the  entrance  of  the  lobby,  he  said, 
'  This  place  is  as  distinctly  within  my  recollection  in 
my  dream,  as  any  room  in  my  house  ' ;  and  he  made 
the  same  observation  when  he  entered  the  lobby.  He 
then  pointed  out  the  exact  spot  where  Bellingham 
stood  when  he  fired,  and  which  Mr.  Perceval  had 
reached  when  he  was  struck  by  the  ball,  where  he  fell. 
The  dress  both  of  Mr.  Perceval  and  Bellingham  agreed 
with  the  description  given  by  Mr.  W.,  even  to  the  most 
minute  particulars. 

"  The  two  following  are  among  many  instances  men- 
tioned by  Dr.  Abercrombie,  who  vouches  for  their 
truth.  A  Scotch  clergyman,  who  lived  near  Edin- 
burgh, dreamed  one  night,  while  on  a  visit  to  that  town, 
that  he  saw  a  fire,  and  one  of  his  children  in  the  midst 
of  it.  On  awaking,  he  instantly  got  up  and  returned 
home  with  the  greatest  speed.  He  found  his  house  on 
fire,  and  was  just  in  time  to  assist  in  saving  one  of  his 
children,  who,  in  the  alarm,  had  been  left  in  a  place 
of  danger. 

"  Two  sisters  had  been  for  some  days  attending  a  sick 
brother,  and  one  of  them  had  borrowed  a  watch  from  a 
friend,  her  own  being  under  repair.  The  sisters  were 
sleepincr  together  in  a  room  communicating  with  that 
of  their  brother,  when  the  elder  awoke  in  a  state  of 
great  agitation,  and  roused  the  other  to  tell  her  that  she 
had  had  a  frightful  dream.      '  I  dreamed,'  she   said, 


232      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OK  THE  EARTH. 

'  that  Mary's  watch  stopped,  and  that,  when  I  told  you 
the  ch-cumstance,  you  replied,  Much  worse  than  that 

has   happened,  for  's   breath    has  stopped    also,' 

meanuig  their,  sick  brother.  The  watch,  however,  was 
found  to  be  going  correctly,  and  the  brother  was  sleep- 
ing quietly.  The  dream  recurred  the  next  night,  and 
on  the  following  morning,  one  of  the  sisters  having  oc- 
casion to  seal  a  note,  went  to  get  the  watch  from  a  writ- 
ing-desk in  which  she  had  deposited  it,  when  she 
found  that  it  had  stopped.  She  rushed  into  her  broth- 
er's room  in  alarm,  remembering  the  dream,  and  found 
that  he  had  been  suddenly  seized  with  a  fit  of  suffoca- 
tion, and  had  expired." 

The  following  is  written  in  the  fly-leaf  of  an  old 
Cotton's  Concordance.  Its  circumstantial  manner  of 
narration  entitles  it  to  belief,  and  the  prediction  of  the 
beheading  of  Charles  the  First,  and  of  the  fire,  to  the  old 
woman  is  no  more  extraordinary  than  that  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  Perceval  to  a  gentleman  who  had  never  seen 
him,  and  was  in  no  way  connected  with  him.  It  is 
signed  Richard  Fienncs,  to  whom  it  is  to  be  presumed 
the  Concordance  once  belonged,  and  it  is  dated  Septem- 
ber 14,  1GG6,  the  year  of  the  fire  of  London.  "  In  the 
yeare  1653,  on  the  26th  day  of  May,  Mr.  Fortescue,  of 
Ware,  in  the  county  of  Devon,  a  person  of  greate  hon- 
oure  and  sobriety,  told  me  at  Heanton,  in  the  same 
county,  in  the  presence  of  my  nephew  Eoll,  and  other 
gentlemen  of  quality,  that  there  was  a  woman  of  his 
knowledge  that  was  then  living,  that  many  yeares  be- 
fore the  warres  had  a  vision  of  them,  and  of  the  king's 
beheading;  and  amongst  many  other  particulars,  of  the 
destruction  of  London.     This  I  writt  down  in  my  AI- 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH.  23t{ 

manac  for  the  ycarc  1G53,  the  same  day  it  was  told  me, 
with  Avertat  Dcus  written  under  it ;  but  it  hath  pleased 
God  that  for  our  siiuie  London  is  now  allsoe  consumed. 
I  pray  God  we  may  all  receive  instruction  by  it." 

We  shall  conclude  these  instances  with  an  account 
of  two  concurrent  dreams,  furnished  by  Dr.  Aber- 
crombie,  which  were  not,  like  those  we  have  already 
given,  followed  by  the  event,  on  which  they  are  said 
to  have  turned,  but  of  which  the  coincidence  is 
very  extraordinary.  "A  young  man,  who  was  at  an 
academy  a  hundred  miles  from  home,  dreamed  that  he 
went  to  his  father's  house  in  the  night,  tried  the  front 
door  but  found  it  locked ;  got  in  by  a  back  door,  but, 
finding  nobody  out  of  bed,  went  directly  to  the  bed- 
room of  his  parents.  He  then  said  to  his  mother,  whom 
he  found  awake,  '  Mother,  I  am  going  a  long  journey, 
and  am  come  to  bid  you  good  by.'  On  this,  she  an- 
swered, under  much  agitation,  '  O  dear  son,  thou  art 
dead.'  He  instantly  awoke,  and  thought  no  more  of 
his  dream,  until,  a  few  days  after,  he  received  a  letter 
from  his  father,  inquiring  very  anxiously  after  his 
health,  in  consequence  of  a  frightful  dream  his  mother 
had  on  the  same  night  in  which  the  dream  now  men- 
tioned occurred  to  him.  She  dreamed  that  she  heard 
some  one  attempting  to  open  the  front  door,  then  go  to 
the  back  door,  and  at  last  come  to  her  bedroom.  She 
then  saw  that  it  was  her  son,  who  came  to  the  side  of 
her  bed  and  said,  '  Mother,  I  am  going  to  take  a  long 
journey,  and  am  come  to  bid  you  good  by,'  on  which 
she  exclaimed,  'O  dear  son,  thou  art  dead.'  But 
nothing  unusual  happened  to  either  of  the  parties." 
Somnanibulism.  Mesmerism.  —  Somnambulism  lit- 
20* 


234     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH. 

erally  means  sleep-walking,  but  in  its  more  extended 
sense  it  includes  all  the  phenomena  that  take  place, 
when  a  person,  apparently  insensible  to  external  objects, 
acts  as  if  he  were  in  a  state  of  consciousness. 

The  following  account  is  copied  from  the  "  French 
Encyclopaedia,"  and  is  given  on  the  authority  of  the 
Bishop  of  Bordeaux.  "  A  young  ecclesiastic  was  in  the 
habit  of  getting  up  during  the  night  in  a  state  of  som- 
nambulism, of  going  to  his  room,  taking  pen,  ink,  and 
paper,  and  composing  and  writing  sermons.  When  he 
had  finished  one  page  of  the  paper  on  which  he  was 
writing,  he  would  read  over  aloud  what  he  had  written 
and  correct  it.  Upon  one  occasion,  he  had  made  use 
of  the  expression,  '  Ce  divin  enfant.'  In  reading 
over  the  passage,  he  changed  the  word  '  divin '  into 
'  adorable.'  Observing,  however,  that  the  pronoun  '  ce  ' 
could  not  stand  before  the  word  '  adorable,'  he  added 
to  it  the  letter  t.  In  order  to  ascertain  whether  the 
somnambulist  made  any  use  of  his  eyes,  the  Arch- 
bisliop  held  a  piece  of  pasteboard  under  his  chin,  to 
prevent  him  from  seeing  the  paper  upon  which  he  was 
writing,  but  he  continued  to  write  on,  without  being  ap- 
parently incommoded  in  the  slightest  degree.  The 
paper  upon  which  he  was  writing  was  taken  away,  and 
other  paper  laid  before  him,  but  he  immediately  per- 
ceived the  change.  He  wrote  pieces  of  music  while  in 
this  state,  and  in  the  same  manner,  with  his  eyes 
closed ;  the  words  he  placed  underneath  the  music. 
It  happened  upon  one  occasion  that  the  words  were 
written  by  him  in  too  large  a  character,  and  did  not 
stand  exactly  under  the  corresponding  notes  ;  he  soon 
perceived  the  error,  blotted  out  the  part,  and  wrote  it 
over  again  with  great  exactness." 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     235 

Gassendi  tells  us  of  a  man  who  used  to  rise  and  dress 
himself  in  his  sleep,  in  order  to  go  to  a  cellar  to  draw 
wine  from  a  cask.  He  appeared  to  see  in  the  dark,  as 
well  as  in  a  clear  day  ;  but  when  he  awoke,  either  in 
the  street  or  cellar,  he  was  obliged  to  grope  and  feel 
his  way  back  to  his  bed.  He  always  answered  as  if 
awake,  but  in  the  morning  recollected  nothing  of  what 
had  happened.  Another  sleep-walker,  a  countryman 
of  Gassendi's,  passed  on  stilts  over  a  frozen  torrent  in 
the  night,  but,  on  awaking,  was  afraid  to  return  before 
daylight,  or  before  the  water  had  subsided.  This  spe- 
cies of  somnambulism  has  been  known  to  be  hereditary. 

Animal  Magnetism^  Mesmerism,  or  artificial  som- 
nambulism, has  recently  excited  great  interest  in  this 
country,  and  though  it  has  been  seized  upon  by  quacks 
and  impostors  grossly  to  deceive  the  public,  a  careful 
analysis  of  indisputable  facts  will  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  subject  is  well  worthy  of  scientific  inquiry. 

It  is  claimed  for  Mesmerism  that,  by  certain  passes 
of  the  hands,  and  an  exertion  of  the  will,  an  impressible 
person  may  be  put  into  a  magnetic  or  somnambulic 
state,  —  during  which  the  senses  are  asleep,  while  the 
mind  is  unusually  active,  and  sometimes  realizes  the 
most  extraordinary  perceptions,  —  called  clairvoyance. 
'  The  reality  of  this  artificial  magnetic  sleep  is  now  ad- 
mitted by  scientific  men,  and  numerous  instances  are  on 
record  in  which  the  drawing  of  teeth,  amputation,  and 
other  painful  surgical  operations,  have  been  performed 
upon  patients  in  this  condition,  they  being  insensible  to 
the  whole  proceeding.  Among  these  instances,  we 
quote  one,  which  occurred  in  1831,  the  operation  being 
performed  by  M.  Cloquct,  and  reported  under  a  com- 
mission by  the  Royal  Medical  Academy  of  Paris. 


236     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

In  this  instance,  a  woman  aged  sixty-four,  having  a 
cancer  in  the  right  breast,  and  there  being  no  other 
hope  of  recovery,  was  placed  in  a  mesmeric  state,  and 
the  tumor  amputated.  The  report  of  the  case  is  as 
follows :  — 

"  At  the  time  appointed,  M,  Cloquet,  the  surgeon, 
found  the  patient  dressed,  and  seated  in  an  elbow-chair, 
in  the  attitude  of  a  person  enjoying  a  calm,  natural 
sleep.  She  had  been  thrown  into  a  state  of  somnam- 
bulism, and  talked  with  great  calmness  of  the  opera- 
tion. She  undressed  herself,  and  sat  down  upon  a 
chair.  M.  Chapelain,  who  had  magnetized  her,  sup- 
ported the  right  arm ;  the  left  was  permitted  to  hang 
down  at  the  side  of  the  body.  M.  Cloquet  then  delib- 
erately performed  the  operation,  which  lasted  from  ten 
to  twelve  minutes,  and  the  tumor  was  extirpated.  Dur- 
ing all  this  time,  the  patient  continued  to  converse  quietly 
with  the  operator,  and  did  not  exhibit  the  slightest  sign 
of  sensibility.  There  was  no  motion  of  the  limbs,  or 
of  the  features ;  no  change  in  the  respiration,  nor  in  the 
voice  ;  no  emotion  even  in  the  pulse.  The  patient 
continued  in  the  same  state  of  automatic  indifference 
and  impassibility  in  which  she  had  been  some  min^^es 
before  the  operation.  There  was  no  occasion  to  hold, 
but  only  to  support  her.  A  ligature  was  applied  to 
one  of  the  thoracic  arteries,  which  had  been  opened 
during  the  extraction  of  the  glands.  The  wound  was 
united  by  means  of  adhesive  plaster,  and  dressed.  The 
patient  was  put  to  bed  while  in  a  state  of  somnambu- 
lism, in  which  she  was  left  for  forty-eight  hours.  An 
hour  after  the  operation,  there  appeared  a  slight  hem- 
orrhage, which  was  attended  with  no   consequences. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     237 

The  first  dressing  was  taken  off  and  the  wound  was 
cleaned  and  dressed  anew ;  the  patient  exhibited  no 
sensibility  or  pain,  and  the  pulse  preserved  its  usual 
rate.  After  this  dressing,  M.  Chapelain  awakened  the 
patient,  whose  somnambulic  sleep  had  continued  from 
an  hour  previous  to  the  operation,  that  is  to  say  for  two 
days.  She  did  not  appear  to  have  any  idea  of  what 
had  passed  in  the  interval ;  but  upon  being  informed 
of  the  operation,  and  seeing  her  children  round  her, 
she  experienced  a  very  lively  emotion,  which  the  mag- 
netizer  checked  by  immediately  setting  her  asleep." 

Instances  similar  to  this  have  frequently  taken  place, 
both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country,  and  very  recently 
the  following  case  occurred  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
"  Some  of  our  principal  physicians,"  says  a  correspond- 
ent of  the  National  Intelligencer,  January,  1845,  "  are 
likely  to  become  converts  at  length  to  a  belief  in  the 
truth  of  the  much-abused  science  of  Mesmerism.  A 
most  convincing  evidence  of  the  power  and  reality 
of  the  mesmeric  agency  was  exhibited  in  this  city  on 
Thursday  last,  the  IGth  instant,  in  the  presence  of  Doc- 
tors Mott,  Francis,  Doane,  Delafield,  Rogers,  and  others, 
—  all  of  them  men  acknowledged  to  stand  in  the  front 
rank  of  their  profession.  A  young  lady  of  respectability 
residing  in  Chambers  Street,  while  in  the  somnambulic 
state  induced  by  Mesmerism,  had  a  tumor  removed 
from  her  neck  near  the  carotid  artery.  The  mes- 
merizer  and  surgical  operator  was  Dr.  Benronnier,  a 
young  man  of  fine  abilities,  who  has  recently  arrived 
here  from  Paris.  The  subject  submitted  to  the  severe 
operation  without  the  slightest  manifestation  of  physical 
pain  or  shrinking,  —  a  serene  smile  playing  upon  her 


238  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

lips  as  the  knife  cut  deep  into  the  flesh.  After  the  op- 
eration was  ended,  an  apparent  disposition  to  awaken 
from  the  magnetic  trance  was  immediately  dispelled  by 
a  (ew  passes  of  the  magnetizer's  hand.  The  eminent 
Dhysicians  who  were  present,  nearly  all  of  whom  came 
'  prepared  to  scoff,'  regarded  one  another  in  silent 
amazement  at  the  successful  close  of  the  experiment. 
As  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  them  remarked  to 
me,  their  looks  seemed  to  say,  'Have  we  not  disbe- 
lieved in  these  things  too  long  ? '  The  case  was  in 
all  its  details  of  a  most  convincing  character." 

As  to  the  pretensions  of  Mesmerism  to  enable  the 
mind  of  the  somnambule  to  perceive  and  realize  ob- 
jects and  scenes  at  a  distance,  and  give  an  account  of 
the  same  by  means  of  a  power  called  clairvoyarice,  we 
must  speak  with  more  reserve  ;  though  it  would  be 
easy  to  cite  many  well  authenticated  instances  in  which 
this  wonder  seems  to  have  been  achieved.  If  the 
.mesmeric  sleep  be  established,  as  it  certainly  is,  it  is 
difficult  to  resist  the  evidence  of  the  still  higher  powers 
said  to  be  conferred  by  this  condition  of  the  body.  We 
may  remark,  however,  that  most  of  the  marvels  which 
are  related  on  this  subject  are  the  work  of  imposture 
or  delusion.  "  But,"  says  "  The  Penny  Cyclopedia," 
"  after  all  this  mass  of  knavery  has  been  cleared  away, 
there  still  remains  a  large  number  of  instances  which 
cannot  be  disbelieved  without  discarding  all  historical 
evidence  whatever." 

Physical  Varieties  of  the  Human  Race.  —  In  at- 
tempting to  form  a  classification  of  the  human  race 
according  to  its  physical  varieties,  the  most  eminent 
philosophers  agree  in  considering  man  as  forming  a 


GEOGRAPHICAL  YIKW  OF  THE  EARTH.      23S 

single  species  of  the  genus,  and  difTei'  only  as  to  the 
number  of  varieties  into  which  it  is  to  be  subdivided. 
The  celebrated  Cuvier  includes  all  these  varieties  under 
three  primary  divisions,  which  he  terms ;  1.  The  Fair, 
or  Caucasian  variety ;  2.  The  Yellow,  or  Mongolian ; 
3.  The  Black,  or  Ethiopian.  Blumenbach  extends 
these  primary  divisions  to  five,  of  which  we  shall  here 
give  a  survey. 

I.  The  Caucasian  variety,  characterized  by  a  white 
skin ;  red  cheeks ;  copious  soft,  flowing  hair,  gener- 
ally curled  or  waving ;  ample  beard ;  small,  oval,  and 
straight  face,  with  features  distinct ;  expanded  fore- 
head ;  large  and  elevated  cranium ;  narrow  nose ;  and 
small  mouth.  This  race  has  given  birth  to  the  most 
civilized  nations  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  has 
exhibited  the  moral  and  intellectual  powers  of  human 
nature  in  their  highest  degree  of  perfection.  This 
variety  derives  its  name  from  the  group  of  mountains 
between  the  Caspian  and  the  Black  Sea,  because  tra- 
dition seems  to  point  to  this  part  of  the  world  as  the 
place  of  its  origin.  Thence  its  different  branches 
have  issued  at  various  periods,  in  different  directions, 
and  here  even  at  the  present  day  we  find  its  peculiar 
physical  characteristics  in  the  highest  perfection,  among 
the  Georgians  and  Circassians,  who  are  considered 
the  handsomest  people  in  the  world. 

It  embraces  several  branches,  distinguished  by  anal- 
ogies of  language,  namely  ;  1.  The  Syrian  branch,  com- 
prising the  Chaldeans,  Assyrians,  Phcenicians,  Jews, 
Arabs,  Egyptians  (Copts),  Abyssinians  (Arab  colon- 
ies), &;c.  From  this  branch,  which  directed  its  course 
southwards,    have    sprung   the    religions   which   have 


240  GEOGRAPIilCAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

proved  ihc  most  durable  and  the  most  widely  extend- 
ed over  the  West. 

2.  The  Indo-Pelasgic  branch,  comprising  Hin- 
doos, Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Celtic  Nations  (An- 
cient Gauls,  Celtiberians,  Britons,  &c.,  Welsh,  Irish, 
Scotch  Highlanders,  &c.),  Teutonic  Nations  (Germans, 
Danes,  Swedes,  Norwegians,  Dutch,  English,  &c.}, 
Sclavonic  Nations  (Russians,  Poles,  Servians,  Croa- 
tians,  Bohemians,  Slowacs,  Wends,  &c.),  Romanic 
Nations  (French,  Spaniards,  Portuguese,  Italians,  Bel- 
gians, Wallachians,  &c.).  The  nations  which  com- 
pose this  branch  have  carried  philosophy,  science,  and 
the  arts  to  the  highest  perfection,  and  for  more  than 
three  thousand  years  have  been  the  depositaries  and 
guardians  of  knowledge. 

3.  The  Scythian  or  Tartarian  Iranch,  compris- 
ing Scythians,  Parthians,  Turkish  Nations  (Usbecs, 
Turkmans,  Kirghises,  Osmanlees  or  Ottoman  Turks, 
&c.),  Uralian  Nations  (Finlanders,  Hungarians  or 
Magyars,  Esthonians,  Sames  or  Laplanders,  &c.). 
Accustomed  to  a  roving  and  predatory  life  in  the 
vast  steppes  of  Asia,  these  w^anderings  tribes  have  left 
them  only  to  devastate  the  inheritance,  and  subvert  the 
civil  institutions,  of  their  more  polished  brethren. 

II.  The  Mongolian  variety  has  these  character- 
istics :  —  the  skin,  instead  of  being  white  or  fair,  is 
olive-yellow  ;  the  hair,  thin,  coarse,  and  straight ;  little 
or  no  beard ;  broad,  flattened  face,  with  the  features 
running  together ;  small  and  low  forehead ;  square- 
shaped  cranium :  wide  and  small  nose ;  very  oblique 
eyes ;  and  thick  lips.  Stature  inferior  to  the  Caucasian. 
In  this  race  the  moral  and  intellectual  energies  have 
been  developed  in  an  mferior  degree. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     241 

This  variety,  which  stretches  eastwardly  from  the 
Scythian  branch  of  the  Caucasian  race  to  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  which  has  mostly  retained 
the  wandering  life,  appears  to  have  had  its  origin  in 
the  Altai  Mountains,  whence  it  has  thrice  carried  the 
terror  of  its  name,  under  Attila,  Gengis,  and  Tamer- 
lane, over  half  the  Old  World.  The  Chinese,  belong- 
ing to  this  variety,  are  by  some  thought  to  have  been 
the  most  early  civilized  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 
It  comprises  the  Chinese,  or  mass  of  the  population  of 
China,  Coreans,  Japanese,  Tungooses  (Tungooses 
proper,  in  Siberia,  and  Mantchoos,  the  ruling  people 
of  China),  Mongols  (Mongols  proper,  Kalmucs,  &c.), 
Birmese  or  Myammas,  Annamites  (Cochinchinesc, 
Tonquinese),  Siamese,  Samoyedes,and  numerous  other 
Siberian  hordes,  Esquimaux  (classed  by  some  in  the 
American  variety),  &,c. 

III.  The  American  variety,  has  the  skin  dark, 
and  more  or  less  red  ;  the  hair  is  black,  straight,  and 
strong,  with  the  beard  small ;  face  and  skull  very 
similar  to  the  Mongolian,  but  the  former  not  so  flat- 
tened ;  eyes  sunk ;  forehead  low ;  the  nose  and  other 
features  being  somewhat  projecting. 

The  moral  and  intellectual  qualities  of  this  race  ap- 
proach those  of  the  Mongolian ;  like  that  it  has  re- 
mained stationary,  but  it  has  stopped  at  a  point  much 
below  the  Asiatic  variety.  The  ancient  and  now  ex- 
tinct empires  of  Mexico  and  Peru  may  be  considered 
analogous  to  those  of  China  and  India,  exhibiting  the 
highest  point  of  civilization  to  which  tlie  two  races 
have  reached ;  but  arts,  sciences,  and  all  those  intel- 
lectual endowments  which  to  a  certain  extent  belong 
16         XX.— 21 


242      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAETH. 

to  the  Asiatics,  appear  to  have  made  Uttle  or  no  pro- 
gress among  the  Americans. 

The  American  race,  blending  with  the  Mongohasi 
to  the  north,  spreads  over  the  whole  of  the  new  world . 
but  whether  any  traces  of  it  exist  beyond  these  limits 
is  a  question  which  has  not  been  investigated. 

IV.  In  the  Ethiopian  variety,  the  skin  is  black ; 
hair  short,  black,  and  woolly  ;  skull  compressed  on  the 
sides,  and  elongated  towards  the  front ;  forehead  low, 
narrow,  and  slanting ;  cheek-bones  very  prominent ; 
jaws  projecting  so  as  to  render  the  upper  front  teeth 
oblique  ;  eyes  prominent ;  nose  broad  and  flat ;  lips,  es- 
pecially the  upper  one,  very  thick.  Different  branches 
of  this  race  spread  over  the  whole  of  the  African  con- 
tinent, excepting  those  parts  bordering  on  the  north 
and  east  of  the  Great  Desert,  which  are  occupied  by 
Caucasian  Syrians,  and  in  which  all  traces  of  the 
negro  formation  disappear. 

The  extension  given  to  this  variety  seems  to  be 
rather  arbitrary,  and  a  more  correct  division  of  the 
African  races  will  probably  be  the  result  of  a  better 
acquaintance  with  that  continent.  There  is,  indeed, 
little  in  common  between  the  Negro  and  the  Berber, 
and  the  Hottentot  and  the  Caffre.  The  Ethiopian 
variety  comprises  the  following  leading  branches,  viz. : 

1.  The  Hottentots  (Coronas,  Namaquas,  Bushmen, 
and  other  tribes  within  the  Cape  Colony,  and  the  basin 
of  the  River  Orange). 

2.  The  Cajfres  (Coosas,  Tambookis,  Betshuanas, 
&c.,  extending  from  Port  Natal  to  an  uncertain  dis- 
tance north). 

3.  The   Negroes,   occupying   the   whole   continent 


GEOGKArHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     243 

from  about  Lat.  20°  N.  to  tlie  southern  tropic,  with  the 
exception  of  some  regions  on  the  eastern  coast,  and 
including  numerous  families  of  nations. 

4.  The  GaUas  (comprising  numerous  wandering 
tribes  who  have  conquered  a  great  part  of  Abyssinia 
and  the  neighbouring  countries). 

5.  The  Barahras  or  Bcrlers  (including  the  native 
tribes  of  Northern  Africa  —  Berbers  proper,  Tuaricks, 
Tibboos,  Shelluhs,  &c.  of  the  Atlas  region  —  and  the 
Nubas,  Kenoos,  Shangallas,  Shillooks,  Darfurians, 
Somaulis,  &c.,  to  the  east). 

The  Ethiopian  variety  lias  ever  remained  in  a  rude 
and  comparatively  barbarous  state  ;  their  cities  are  but 
collections  of  huts  ;  their  laws,  the  despotic  whim  of 
the  reigning  chief.  Incessantly  occupied  in  war  and 
the  chase,  they  do  not  seek  to  perpetuate  their  ideas  ; 
they  have  no  written  language,  the  Arabic  being  the 
only  character  used  in  Africa,  and,  although  abundantly 
supplied  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  they  have  retained 
their  condition  unchanged,  after  centuries  of  intercourse 
with  enlightened  nations.  Let  us  hope  that  a  better 
destiny  awaits  them. 

V.  The  Malay  race  varies  in  the  color  of  the  skin 
from  a  light  tawny  to  a  deep  brown  approaching  to 
black  ;  hair  black,  more  or  less  curled,  and  abundant ; 
head  rather  narrow ;  bones  of  the  face  large  and 
prominent ;  nose  full  and  broad  towards  the  lips. 
Such  is  the  account  given  by  many  writers  of  this  va- 
riety, which  is  spread  all  over  Oceanica,  and  is  found  in 
Malacca,  in  Asia,  and  on  Madagascar,  in  Africa  ;  but  it 
certainly  includes  races  of  very  different  physical  and 
moral  qualities. 


244  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAETH. 

We  may  divide  it  into  the  Malayan  race  and  the 
Melanesian  or  Papua  race :  the  former  is  of  a  lighter 
complexion,  longer  hair,  and  somewhat  oval  counte- 
nance ;  some  of  the  nations  of  this  race  have  long  pos- 
sessed alphabets,  and  made  considerable  advances  in 
civilization,  while  others  are  in  a  low  state  ;  the  latter 
have  the  black  complexion  and  woolly  hair  of  the  ne- 
groes, and  are  in  the  most  degraded  social  condition, 
living  by  fishing,  or  on  the  spontaneous  productions  of 
the  earth,  without  clothing,  without  huts,  and  even 
without  arms,  except  of  the  rudest  construction.  They 
form  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  great  islands  of 
Australia  and  are  found  in  the  interior  of  the  other 
principal  islands  of  Oceanica,  in  which  the  Malayan 
races  are  generally  the  ruling  people. 

The  Papuan  race  are  considered  by  some  natural- 
ists as  belonging  to  the  Ethiopian  variety,  to  which 
they  have  a  strong  resemblance,  though  inferior  to 
them  in  capacity. 

The  Malayans  proper  include  the  following :  —  the 
Javanese,  Malays  of  Sumatra,  Borneo,  Molucca,  the 
Moluccas,  &c.,  the  Battaks  and  Achinese  of  Sumatra ; 
the  Bugis,  Macassars,  and  Aifourous,  of  Celebes  ;  the 
Dayaks,  or  Harafouras,  of  Borneo ;  the  Tagals,  Bis- 
sayos,  Sooloos,  and  Mindanaos,  of  the  Philippines ;  the 
Carolinians,  New  Zealanders,  Feejeeans,  Sandwich 
Islanders,  Society  Islanders,  Friendly  Islanders,  &c. 

Concluding  Observations.  —  The  existences  which 
we  notice  in  the  world  are  easily  distinguished  into 
two  classes,  material  and  immaterial.  The  material 
class  consists  of  bodies  which  are  always  divisible  into 
atoms  by  the  mechanical  or  chemical  agents  calculated 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     245 

p  act  upon  them.  The  immaterial  comprises  all 
iiving  principles,  all  degrees  of  sensitivity,  the  soul  of 
man  and  the  Deity !  No  immaterial  existence  or  being 
is  capable  of  division  into  atoms  or  molecules.  Life 
cannot  be  cut  asunder,  any  more  than  the  power  of 
feeling  or  that  of  thought.  If  you  take  off  the  limb  of 
a  feeling  animal,  though  you  disunite  that  into  a  sep- 
arate part,  you  carry  no  feeling  with  it.  The  severed 
limb,  once  severed  from  that  body  which  contains  the 
sentient  principle,  has  no  sensitivity  after  the  amputa- 
tion. This  is  the  great  distinction  of  all  immaterial 
being.  It  is  indivisible  ;  it  is  not  a  composition  ;  it  is 
undissolvable  ;  it  is  always  a  one  whole  ;  a  perfect  sin- 
gularity ;  an  uncompounded  thing.  The  term  heing  is 
more  properly  its  denomination  than  thing;  because 
being  or  living  existence  is  also  its  invariable  and  in- 
separable characteristic.  Life  or  being  is  the  universal 
companion  and  mark  of  all  that  is  immaterial.  What 
feels  must  live ;  what  thinks  must  live ;  the  soul  pre- 
eminently so.  Yet  life,  as  we  see  in  vegetables,  is  not 
necessarily  united  with  either  feeling  or  thought.  Feel- 
ing is  life  combined  with  sensitivity ;  and  this  combi- 
nation may  exist  without  a  reasoning  faculty,  as  in  the 
lowest  classes  of  animated  nature.  Mind  is  life  com- 
bined with  feeling  and  thought ;  and  this  may  subsist 
as  in  brutes,  without  the  human  soul.  Our  spirit  is  an 
additional  nature :  it  is  the  union  of  life,  feeling,  anc^ 
thought,  with  its  highly  born  and  most  distinguished 
self;  and  all  these  orders  of  immaterial  being  are  real- 
ities in  nature,  distinguishable  from  each  other  as  they 
are  from  the  eternal  Source  and  Sovereign  of  them  all, 
the  almighty  and  everlasting  Creator,  from  whom,  and 
21* 


246      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

from  whom  alone,  all  life,  feeling,  thought,  and  spirit 
have  proceeded. 

Thus  there  appears  to  be  in  existing  nature,  so  far  as 
we  at  present  know  it,  and  to  be  there  distinctly  per- 
ceptible by  us,  FOUR  classes  or  orders  of  immaterial 
being,  which  are  not  each  other,  but  which  are  all  sep- 
arate essences  or  animated  things,  and  which  subsist 
manifestly  apart  from  each  other,  with  very  distinguish- 
ing properties.  The  first  of  these  is  indeed  so  superior 
that  it  is  almost  profane  to  associate  it  with  the  others ; 
but,  as  it  is  the  fountain  of  all,  it  may  be  reverentially- 
placed  at  the  head  of  all  immaterial  being,  though  with 
the  impression  of  being  at  an  infinite  distance  and  un- 
approachable exaltation  :  — 

I.  The  supreme  eternal  Ci'eator  of  all 
II.  The  human  soul. 

III.  The  animal  mind. 

IV.  The  vegetable  living  principle. 

Each  of  the  three  last  is  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
other  in  power  and  qualities,  descending  in  the  scale 
from  the  human  spirit  to  the  plant. 

Thus  the  gracious  Deity,  as  the  author  and  source 
of  all  that  is  immaterial,  possesses  in  himself  all  spirit, 
mind,  feeling,  and  life,  and  has  distributed  them  re- 
spectively to  his  creatures  as  he  has  thought  fit.  The 
human  spirit  has  also  perceiving  and  thinking  mind, 
sensibility,  and  the  principle  of  life,  but  is  not  its  divine 
maker.  Brutes  have  sensations,  perceptions,  memory, 
will,  comparing  thought,  and  a  deciding  judgment; 
though  varying  in  degree,  they  have  also  feeling  and 
life  ;  but  they  have  not  the  human  soul,  and  cannot  do 
wliat  that  does,  nor  be  what  that  is.     So  plants  have 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIKW    OF    THE    EARTH.  247 

that  living  principle  which  places  them  in  the  ranks  of 
immaterial  beings  ;  but  they  have  not  the  animal  sensi- 
tivity, nor  a  perceiving  or  thinking  mind,  nor  a  human 
spirit.  They  are  the  lowest  order  of  immaterial  bemg. 
In  them,  an  immaterial  principle  is  united,  in  its  sim- 
plest state,  with  a  material  organization  and  substance. 
They  are  thus  a  compound  of  two  natures,  or  classes 
of  existence.  They  are  at  the  same  time  material 
things,  and  immaterial  beings  ;  but  they  are  beings 
without  the  sensitivity  and  degree  of  mind  which  ani- 
mals possess.  They  are  immaterial  beings  of  their 
own  class  and  kind,  strictly  limited  to  that,  and  clearly 
defined  to  the  eye  and  judgment  of  every  one  by  that 
limitation ;  but  their  material  substance  is  as  truly  not 
their  principle  of  life,  as  their  living  principle  is  not 
their  material  substance.* 


MAN  IN  HIS  SOCIAL  AND  MORAL  CHARACTER. 

We  have  hitherto  viewed  man  in  his  physical  char- 
acter, and  as  possessing  qualities  which  ally  him  to  the 
higher  forms  of  organized  nature.  We  now  proceed 
to  consider  him  in  his  mental  and  social  capacity. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  varieties  of  the  human  race, 
he  everywhere  maintains,  says  Smellie,  a  decided 
rank  far  above  any  other  animal.     He  is  the  only  one 

*  We  have  here,  and  in  some  of  the  preceding  pages,  used  the 
words  of  Tumor,  in  his  "  Sacred  History  of  the  World." 


248  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

which  has  the  power  of  communicating  its  thoughts 
and  feelings  by  articulate  speech  ;  the  only  one  which 
can  properly  be  said  to  avail  itself  of  the  advantages  of 
society ;  and  the  only  one  that,  strictly  speaking,  ed- 
ucates its  young.  It  is  in  consequence  of  these  advan- 
tages, particularly  that  derived  from  association,  that  he 
has  been  enabled,  under  all  circumstances,  to  acquire 
and  preserve  a  dominion  over  other  animals,  either  by 
subjecting  them  to  his  use,  or  at  least  making  himself 
the  object  of  their  fear.  It  is  in  consequence  of  these 
advantages,  also,  that  he  has  been  enabled  to  protect 
himself  against  the  severity  of  climates,  and  thus  spread 
his  species  over  every  part  of  the  earth.  Naturally 
tender  and  defenceless,  he  could  only  exist  in  the  most 
equable  and  temperate  climates ;  but,  aided  by  the  in- 
ventions and  discoveries  of  social  life,  he  is  enabled  to 
brave  the  cold  of  the  polar  circle,  as  well  as  the  over- 
powering heat  of  the  regions  on  the  equator. 

Man  is  only  partially  governed  by  instinct.  His 
knowledge  is  the  result  of  education  and  experience. 
He  knows  nothing  but  what  he  has  discovered  him- 
self, or  what  has  been  taught  him  by  others.  By  means 
of  language  and  writing,  the  discoveries  and  improve- 
ments of  one  generation  are  transmitted  to  the  next, 
and  they  are  the  ground  of  an  almost  indefinite  pro- 
gress towards  perfection.  Other  animals,  being  prin- 
cipally governed  by  instinct,  are  stationary ;  they 
neither  advance  nor  recede  in  their  manners  or  habits  ; 
by-  being  associated  one  with  another,  they  do  not  im- 
prove ;  and  although  capable  of  being  educated  by 
man,  they  do  not  educate  one  another.  The  first 
swarm   of  bees  that  existed  probably  constructed  as 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      249 

perfect  a  honeycomb  as  is  done  now  ;  they  do  not  im- 
prove upon  the  plan  which  instinct  has  pointed  out  to 
them ;  it  is  a  plan  which  they  did  not  in  the  first  place 
contrive,  and  cannot  amend.  But  if  we  compare  the 
rude  and  ill-constructed  habitations  of  savage  nations 
with  the  splendid  and  luxurious  edifices  of  civilized 
life,  we  instantly  perceive  the  influence  which  lan- 
guage, society,  and  education  have  had  upon  the  human 
race.  We  are  sensible  of  the  great  difference  between 
that  skill  which  is  the  result  of  instinct,  and  that  which 
is  acquired  by  being  capable  of  reasoning  and  speak- 
ing- 

Being  thus  susceptible  of  constant "  progress  in  im- 
provement, man  is  found  under  different  circumstances 
in  different  stages  of  his  progress.  In  his  primitive 
state,  he  supports  himself  upon  the  flesh  of  animals, 
which  he  destroys  in  the  chase,  or  upon  the  wild  fruits 
of  the  forest.  He  has  not,  therefore,  time  to  devote  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  arts,  or  to  the  education  of  his  chil- 
dren ;  he  learns  nothing  but  how  to  construct  his  hut 
and  his  canoes ;  he  clothes  himself  with  the  skins  of 
wild  beasts,  and  he  observes  the  natural  objects  around 
him,  so  far  only  as  he  can  make  them  subservient  to 
his  purposes.  When  he  comes  into  the  possession  of 
the  domestic  animals,  the  cow,  the  horse,  the  sheep, 
&c.,  he  finds  that  he  can  derive  an  easier  and  less  pre- 
carious subsistence  from  their  milk  and  flesh,  than 
from  the  products  of  the  chase.  He  rears,  therefore, 
numerous  herds  of  these  animals,  and  being  only  occu- 
pied in  finding  them  pasturage  and  shelter,  is  compar- 
atively at  leisure  to  apply  himself  to  some  of  the  arts 
of  civilized  life.     He  manufactures  clothing  from  their 


250     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

skins,  and  wool  of  various  degrees  of  delicacy  and  ele- 
gance. He  builds  himself  more  commodious  habita- 
tions, and  from  the  different  degrees  of  industry  and 
skill  with  which  different  individuals  apply  themselves 
to  these  occupations  arises  an  inequality  of  conditions. 
Some  become  rich,  and  others  comparatively  poor. 
The  rich  acquire  a  disposition  to  indulge  in  the  com- 
forts and  luxuries  of  life,  and  this  is  found  to  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  wandering  and  unsettled  condition 
of  mere  shepherds.  Hence  they  are  induced  to  fix 
themselves  permanently  upon  particular  tracts  of  coun- 
try which  come  to  be  considered  as  their  property  ; 
and  thus  they  gradually  devote  themselves  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil.  This  enables  a  given  portion 
of  land  to  support  a  much  greater  number  of  people 
than  when  it  was  devoted  to  the  feeding  of  herds ;  and 
hence,  as  agriculture  becomes  established,  the  popula- 
tion of  a  country  regularly  increases,  and  society  also 
becomes  settled  and  permanent.  Every  individual  is 
able  to  produce  more  by  his  labor  than  is  sufficient  for 
his  own  support,  and  some,  therefore,  devote  themselves 
to  other  occupations,  the  results  of  which  they  ex- 
change with  the  laborer  for  his  surplus.  Nations  also 
exchange  their  superfluities  with  one  another.  Thus 
commerce  is  established  ;  and  the  arts  and  elegancies 
of  life  are  one  by  one  brought  to  light,  as  the  growing 
wealth  of  individuals  and  nations  creates  a  demand  for 
them. 

Grand  Divisions  and  Nations  of  the  Globe.  — 
The  world  is  generally  considered  under  five  grand 
divisions,  as  follows. 

America.  —  This   portion   of    the    globe    embraces 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH 


251 


about   15,000,000  square   miles,  and  a  population  of 
nearly  50,000,000,  thus  distributed  :  — 


North  America,  West  In- 
dies, AND  Guiana. 


South  America. 


Russian  America, 

Danish  America, 

Britisli  America, 

United  States, 

Spanish  Islands, 

Ilayti, 

French  America, 

Dutch  America, 

Mexico, 

Texas, 

Guatemala, 


50,000 
110,000 

2,150,000 
20,000,000 

1,050,000 
600,000 
240,000 
114,000 

8,000,000 
100,000 

2,000,000 


New  Grenada, 

Venezuela, 

Equator, 

Peru, 

Bolivia, 

Chili, 

La  Plata, 

Uruguay, 

Paraguay, 

Brazil, 


1,680,000 

900,000 

650,000 

1,700,000 

1,300,000 

1,400,000 

1,800,000 

90,000 

250,000 

5,000,000 


Independ.  Indians,  1,400,000 
34,414,000  16,170,000 

Of  this  number,  about  twenty  millions  are  whites ; 
ten  millions,  of  the  aboriginal  race ;  nine  millions,  ne- 
groes ;  and  the  remainder,  mixed  races ;  the  latter, 
called  mestizoes,  being  chiefly  within  the  Spanish  set 
tlements. 

Europe.  —  This  division  of  the  world,  though  con 
taining  but  about  3,500,000  square  miles,  and  therefore 
smaller  in  extent  than  either  of  the  other  four,  must 
still  be  regarded  as  taking  the  lead  in  the  arts  and 
sciences,  in  hterature,  and  in  knowledge.  Though  it 
was  settled  long  after  A.sia,  though  it  is  legs  extensive, 
less  populous,  and  less  fertile  than  that  cradle  of  the 
human  family,  still  it  has  greatly  outstripped  it  in  all 
that  belongs  to  civilization. 

The  leading  nations  of  Europe,  with  their  population, 
are  exhibited  in  the  following  table  :  -  - 


252 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


Great  Britain  and 

Germany,               38,204,000 

Ireland, 

26,863,957 

Prussia,                   ]  4,500,000 

France, 

34,000,000 

Holland,                    2,545,000 

Spain, 

12,000,000 

Belgium,                   4,230,000 

Portugal, 

3,400,000 

Denmark                   2,150,000 

Italy, 

21,800,000 

Norway  and  Swe- 

Greece, 

180,000 

den,                        4,300,000 

Turkey, 

10,600,000 

Russia,                     54,000,000 

Switzerland, 
Austria, 

2,200,000 
35,000,000 

265,372,957 

Africa.  —  This  quarter  of  the  globe  contains 
11,500,000  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  sixty 
millions.  The  Arabs  and  Moors,  who  chiefly  occupy 
the  northern  parts,  are  of  Asiatic  origin  ;  but  there  are 
four  great  families  of  nations,  strongly  marked  by 
physical  characteristics,  who  appear  to  be  indigenous 
to  this  quarter  of  the  globe.  These  are  the  Berbers 
who  are  mixed  with  the  Arabs  and  Moors  ;  the  Negroes, 
who  pervade  Central  Africa ;  and  the  Hottentots,  and 
the  Caffres,  of  the  South. 

Asia.  —  This  country  was  the  cradle  of  the  human 
family,  and  to  this  quarter  we  must  look  for  the  origin 
of  the  various  tribes  which  now  inhabit  the  earth  ;  yet 
two  of  the  great  races  of  mankind — the  Negro  and 
the  American  Indian  —  are  not  now  to  be  found  within 
its  limits.  Still,  there  is  no  quarter  of  the  globe  where 
human  society  presents  such  a  diversity  of  aspects  as 
here. 

Asia  is  about  sixteen  million  square  miles  in  extent 
and  contains  nearly  one  third  part  of  the  land  surface 
of  the  earth.  The  following  table  exhibits  its  general 
divisions,  with  the  population  of  each. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       253 

Russia  in  Asia, 7,000,000 

Turkey  in  Asia,            12,000,000 

Arabia, 10,000,000 

Persia, 12,000,000 

Afghanistan  and  Beloochistan,         .        .        .  10,000,000 

Independent  Tartary,            ....  7,000,000 

Chinese  Empire, 340,000,000 

Japan, 12,000,000 

Hindostan, 140,000,000 

Farther  India, 20,000,000 

570,000,000 

It  may  be  proper  to  state  that  there  is  great  diversity 
in  the  estimates  of  Chinese  population,  some  authors 
rating  it  as  low  as  two  hundred  millions.  Several  re- 
cent writers,  however,  of  high  authority,  give  it  as  in 
the  preceding  table. 

Oceanica.  —  Under  this  title  are  embraced  the  nu- 
merous islands  of  the  Pacific,  which  comprise  an  area 
of  land  of  about  4,500,000  square  miles,  and  contain 
a  population  of  perhaps  twenty  millions  of  people. 
Among  them,  there  are  two  leading  races,  —  the  Ma- 
lays, who  inhabit  most  of  the  islands,  and  a  peculiar 
kind  of  negroes,  who  are  widely  scattered,  but  are 
most  numerous  in  Australia  and  New  Guinea. 

Political  Institutions.  —  1.  Government.  —  The 
government  of  a  state  is  the  body  or  bodies  of  men,  to 
which  are  intrusted  the  power  of  making  and  execut- 
ing the  laws,  the  management  of  the  public  concerns, 
and  the  defence  and  promotion  of  the  general  welfare. 

2.  Powers  and  Brandies  of  Governments.  —  The 
most  important  powers  of  a  government  are,  that  of 
making  laws,  or  the  legislative  power ;  that  of  interpret- 
ing or  applying  them  to  individual  cases,  or  the  judicial 
XX.— 23 


254      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

power;  and  that  of  executing  them,  or  the  executive 
power.  Each  of  these  powers  is,  in  many  states,  con- 
fided to  a  distinct  body,  and  the  government  is,  there- 
fore, divided  into  three  independent  branches,  the  leg- 
islature, the  judiciary,  and  the  executive.  This  is  the 
case  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Forms  of  Government.  —  There  are  various 
forms  of  government  differing  in  their  character  and 
appellation,  according  to  the  disposition  of  the  powers 
of  government  in  few  or  many  hands,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  different  branches. 

I.  A  monarchical  government  is  one  in  which  the 
supreme  power  is  exercised  by  a  single  individual ;  if 
the  sovereign  succeeds  his  predecessor  by  right  of  in- 
heritance, it  is  a  hereditary  monarchy  ;  if  he  is  chosen 
by  the  nation,  or  certain  privileged  classes  or  dignita- 
ries, it  is  an  elective  monarchy.  France,  England, 
Spain,  &c.,  are  hereditary  monarchies. 

II.  When  the  sovereign  has  no  law  but  his  own  will, 
and  can  dispose  at  pleasure  of  the  lives,  persons,  and 
property  of  his  subjects,  the  government  is  a  despotism  ; 
if  the  sovereign  unites  all  powers  in  himself,  but  is 
bound  by  the  laws,  the  government  is  an  absolute  mon- 
archy. Of  this  character  are  the  governments  of  Rus- 
sia, Turkey,  and  most  Asiatic  kingdoms. 

III.  When  the  authority  of  the  head  of  the  state  is 
restricted  by  the  concurrent  authority  of  the  represent- 
atives of  the  nation,  or  of  certain  privileged  classes  of 
the  nation,  the  government  is  called  a  limited  or  con- 
stitutional monarchy.  Such  are  the  governments  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  Belgium,  Holland,  &c. 

IV.  A  republican  government  is  one  in  which  the 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      255 

supreme  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  whole  body  of 
the  people,  or  is  exercised  by  the  principal  citizens ;  in 
the  former  case,  it  is  called  a  democracy,  or  democratic 
republic ;  in  the  latter  an  aristocracy,  or  aristocratic  re- 
public. The  United  States,  Mexico,  and  all  the  South 
American  States  except  Brazil,  are  democratic  re- 
publics. 

V.  States  are  also  differently  denominated  according 
to  the  title  of  the  sovereign,  without  regard  to  the  form 
of  government ;  thus  a  monarchy  is  styled  an  empire, 
kingdom,  duchy,  principality,  electorate,  landgraviate, 
&c.,  according  as  the  head  of  the  state  bears  the  title 
of  emperor,  king,  duke,  prince,  elector,  landgrave,  &c. 

4.  Colonies.  —  Colonies  are  establishments  founded 
by  states,  or  sometimes  by  individuals,  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, for  commercial  or  benevolent  purposes,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  authority  of  the  mother  country.  Factories 
are  trading  stations  established  in  foreign  countries. 
Colonies  founded  by  the  transportation  of  convicted 
criminals  are  called  penal  colonies.  Such  are  the  es- 
tablishments of  Great  Britain  in  New  Holland  and 
Van  Diemen's  Land. 

Religions.  —  The  religious  opinions  of  mankind  are 
infinitely  diversified,  but  they  may  be  classed  under 
two  general  heads,  —  one  comprising  those  nations 
which  acknowledge  the  existence  of  a  supreme  God, 
the  creator,  preserver,  and  ruler  of  all  things,  and  the 
other  including  those  which  do  not  recognize  the  exis- 
tence of  a  supreme  intelligence. 

1.  Fetichism,  Sabeism. — To  the  latter  class  belong 
the  innumerable  forms  of  superstition  which  prevail 
among  ignorant  and  barbarous  tribes.    Fetichism  is  the 


256     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

worship  of  fetiches,  that  is  of  various  Hving  or  inani- 
mate objects  of  nature  ;  the  elements,  rivers,  fire,  trees, 
and  whatever  else  the  credulous  savage  sees  endowed 
with  powers  of  good  or  evil,  become  the  objects  of 
gratitude  or  fear,  and  worship.  Different  forms  of  fe- 
tichism  prevail  among  the  negro  tribes  of  Africa,  in 
Australia,  Polynesia,  and  in  some  parts  of  Asia  and 
America.  The  sacrifice  of  human  victims  often  forms 
a  part  of  its  horrid  rites.  Sabeism  is  the  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  this  is 
an  ancient  form  of  religious  faith,  but  has  ceased  to 
prevail  very  extensively. 

2.  Judaism.  —  Judaism  acknowledges  no  revelation 
but  that  made  to  the  Hebrews  by  Moses  and  the 
prophets.  The  Jews  are  the  descendants  of  the  an- 
cient Hebrews,  and,  though  dispersed  over  all  parts  of 
the  world,  they  preserve  their  ceremonies  and  faith. 
Their  sacred  books  are  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, written  originally  in  Hebrew ;  they  still  expect 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah  promised  by  their  prophets, 
and  observe  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  as  the  Sab- 
bath. Since  their  dispersion,  they  have  ceased  to  offer 
the  sacrifices  prescribed  by  the  law,  and,  instead  of 
their  ancient  priests  or  Levites,  they  have  substituted 
Rabbins,  or  learned  men,  who  expound  the  law  in  the 
synagogues.  Among  the  Jewish  sects  are  the  Talmud- 
ists,  so  called  because  they  receive  the  Talmud,  a 
collection  of  traditions  and  comments  upon  their  sacred 
books ;  the  Caraitcs,  who  reject  the  absurd  traditions 
and  superstitious  follies  of  the  Talmud  ;  the  Rechabites, 
who  live  in  the  oases  near  Mecca,  and  receive  only  the 
earlier  books  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  the  Samar- 
itans, who  still  offer  sacrifices  on  Mount  Gerizim. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      257 

3.  CliristianiUj.  —  Although  founded  on  Judaism, 
and  originating  among  the  Jews,  Christianity  teaches 
that  the  Messiah  promised  by  the  Jewish  prophets  has 
come,  and  brought  a  new  revelation  to  men,  and  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  this  Messiah  ;  the  New  Testament  con- 
tains the  revelations  of  this  divine  teacher. 

4.  Malwmetanism.  —  Islamism,  or  Mahometanism, 
was  founded  by  Mahomet,  or  Mohammed,  an  Arabian, 
who,  admitting  the  divine  mission  of  Moses  and  Jesus 
Christ,  and  acknowledging  the  sacred  character  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  claimed  to  be  charged  with 
new  revelations  from  God.  Islamism  teaches  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  a  future  judgment,  &c.  ;  it  pre- 
scribes prayer  five  times  a  day ;  frequent  ablutions ; 
fasting  during  the  month  Ramazan  ;  yearly  alms,  to  the 
amount  of  the  fortieth  of  one's  personal  property ;  pil- 
grimage to  Mecca,  and  some  other  rites ;  the  temples 
are  called  mosques,  and  divine  service  is  performed  in 
them  every  Friday. 

The  sacred  book  of  the  Mahometans  is  the  Koran, 
an  Arabic  word  signifying  the  hook ;  it  is  written  in 
Arabic.  The  principal  Mahometan  sects  are  the  Son- 
nites,  who  acknowledge  the  authority  of  certain  tradi- 
tions and  commentaries  on  the  Koran  ;  the  Shiites,  in- 
cluding the  Nosairians,  Ismaelians,  Druses,  &c.,  who 
reject  these  traditions ;  the  Yezids,  whose  religious  sys- 
tem consists  of  a  mixture  of  Christianity  and  Mahom- 
etanism ;  and  the  Wahabites,  an  Arab  sect,  which  arose 
during  the  last  century,  and  has  endeavoured  to  effect 
a  reformation  of  Islamism  by  purging  it  of  human  cor- 
ruptions and  restoring  its  primitive  simplicity. 

5.  Brdhmanism.  —  Brahmanism  recognizes  the  ex- 
17         22* 


258  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

istence  of  a  supreme  intelligence,  Brahm,  but  teaches 
that  he  governs  the  world  through  the  medium  of  nu- 
merous subordinate  deities.  The  principal  of  these  are 
Brahma,  the  Creator,  who  presides  over  the  land ; 
Vishnu,  the  Preserver,  presiding  over  water;  and  Siva, 
the  Destroyer,  who  presides  over  fire  ;  these  three  per- 
sons are,  however,  but  one  God,  and  form  the  Tri- 
mourti,  or  Hindoo  Trinity.  The  Hindoos,  who  profess 
this  faith,  have  several  sacred  books,  called  Vedas, 
written  in  Sanscrit,  and  forming  their  code  of  religion 
and  philosophy  ;  they  teach  the  metempsychosis  or 
transmigration  of  souls,  and  the  immortaHty  of  the  soul, 
and  prescribe  a  great  number  of  fasts,  penances,  and 
rites.  Pilgrimages,  voluntary  death,  self-torment,  ablu- 
tions, &c.,  are  practised,  and  the  females  of  the  two 
higher  castes  are  required  to  burn  themselves  on  the 
dead  bodies  of  their  husbands. 

6.  Buddhism.  —  Buddhism  resembles  Brahmanism 
in  many  points.  It  is  the  prevailing  religion  in  Thibet, 
Ceylon,  the  Birman  empire,  and  Annam  ;  and  is  pro- 
fessed by  a  portion  of  the  people  of  China,  Corea,  and 
Japan.  Buddhism  teaches  that  the  universe  is  inhabited 
by  several  classes  of  existences,  partly  material  and 
partly  spiritual,  which  rise  by  successive  transmigra- 
tions to  higher  degrees  of  being,  until  they  arrive  at  a 
purely  spiritual  existence,  when  they  are  teimed 
Buddhas.  These  holy  beings  descend  from  time  to  time 
upon  earth  in  a  human  form  to  preserve  the  true  doc- 
trine among  men  ;  four  Buddhas  have  already  appear- 
ed, the  last  under  the  name  of  Shigemooni,  or  Godama, 

7.  Nanekism.  —  Nanekism,  or  the  religion  of  the 
Seiks,  founded  by  Nanek  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Is  a 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     259 

mixture  of  Mahometanism  and  Brahmanism.  The 
Seiks  adore  one  God,  believe  in  future  rewards  and 
punishments,  and  reject  the  use  of  images  as  objects  of 
worship  ;  they  receive  the  Vedas  and  the  Koran,  as 
sacred  books,  but  think  that  the  Hindoos  have  corrupted 
their  religious  system  by  the  use  of  idols. 

8.  Doctrines  of  Confucius.  —  The  Doctrine  of  the 
Learned,  or  the  Religion  of  Confucius,  is  the  received 
religion  of  the  educated  classes  of  China,  Annam,  and 
Japan  ;  it  uses  no  images,  and  has  no  priests,  the  cer- 
emonies being  performed  by  the  civil  magistrates. 
The  rites,  such  as  the  worship  of  the  heavens,  stars, 
mountains  and  rivers,  genii,  and  souls  of  the  departed, 
are  esteemed  merely  civil  institutions. 

9.  Magianism.  —  Magianism,  or  the  Religion  of  Zo- 
roaster, teaches  the  existence  of  a  supreme  being, 
Zervan,  or  the  Eternal,  subordinate  to  whom  are  Or 
muzd,  the  principle  of  good,  and  Ahriman,  the  principle 
of  evil,  who  wage  a  perpetual  warfare ;  numerous  in- 
ferior deities  and  genii  take  part  in  this  struggle,  in 
which  Ormuzd  will  finally  prevail.  The  sacred  books 
of  the  Magians  are  called  the  Zendavesta.  The  cer- 
emonies consist  chiefly  in  purifications,  ablutions,  and 
other  rites,  performed  in  the  presence  of  the  sacred 
fire,  the  symbol  of  the  primeval  life  ;  hence  the  Ma- 
gians are  erroneously  called  fire-worshippers. 

The   numbers   of  the   adherents  of  each  religious 

system  have  been  estimated  as  follows : 

Christianity.  Judaism,  4,000.000 

Roman  Catholics,  139,000,000  Mahometanism,  120,000,000 

Greek  Catholics,     62,000,000  BraJimanism,  100,000,000 

Protestants,             59,000,000  Buddhism,  200,000,000 


260,000,000 


Other  religions,      146,000,000 
Total,        830,000,000 


260     GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 


SUPERSTITIONS. 

Mankind  have  in  all  ages  been  prone  to  the  most 
lamentable  superstitions.  The  enlightened  nations  of 
antiquity  were  no  more  exempted  from  them  than  the 
most  ignorant.  The  Jews,  as  we  are  repeatedly  in- 
formed in  Scripture,  could  -with  difficulty  be  restrained 
from  idolatrous  and  superstitious  practices,  and  confined 
lo  the  worship  and  service  of  the  true  God.  This  re- 
markable tendency  of  the  Hebrew  nation  was  probably 
caused  by  their  sojourn,  for  the  space  of  four  hundred 
years,  among  the  Egyptians,  whose  system  of  religion 
Avas  a  mass  of  idolatrous  observances.  They  had  a 
number  of  ideal  gods,  to  whom  they  erected  temples  of 
prodigious  size  and  great  architectural  splendor;  the 
principal  of  these  deities  were  Osiris  and  Isis,  which 
are  thought  to  have  been  typical  of  the  sun  and  moon. 
But  they  also  offered  worship  to  various  animals,  as  the 
ox,  or  bull,  —  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Apis, — 
the  dog,  the  wolf,  the  hawk,  the  ibis  or  stork,  the  cat, 
and  other  creatures  ;  they  likewise  paid  adoration  to  the 
Nile,  personifying  it  by  the  crocodile,  to  which  temples 
were  erected,  and  priests  set  apart  for  its  service.  The 
Egyptians,  notwithstanding  their  learning,  also  believed 
in  dreams,  lucky  and  unlucky  days,  omens,  charms, 
and  magic.  In  a  word,  they  were  grossly  supersti- 
tious, and  seem  to  have  had  but  a  feeble  conception,  if 
any,  of  the  laws  which  regulate  the  ordinary  phenom- 
ena of  nature. 

The  absurdities  of  Egyptian  superstition  formed  a 
basis  for  what  followed  among   the   Greeks  and  Ro 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      261 

mans,  who  had  but  a  faint  idea  of  an  omnipresent  and 
omnipotent  God,  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  universe. 
Their  notions  of  divinity,  like  those  of  other  pagans, 
were  grovelling  and  contemptible.  The  gods  whom 
they  adored  were  imagined  to  have  been  at  one  period 
rulers  or  heroes  on  earth,  and  still  had  their  habita- 
tion somewhere  within  the  Grecian  territory,  or  at  no 
crreat  distance  from  it.  Besides  their  belief  in  this  vain 
mythology,  both  Greeks  and  Romans  put  faith  in  divi- 
nation, oracles,  the  magical  power  of  amulets,  and 
dreams.  Bees,  ants,  and  various  reptiles  and  beasts, 
were  imagined  to  have  the  power  of  giving  omens  of 
good  or  bad  fortune.  The  phenomena  of  the  atmos- 
phere and  planetaiy  bodies  were  likewise  a  fertile 
source  of  superstitious  delusions.  The  appearance  of 
comets,  and  also  eclipses,  were  ominous  of  great  public 
disasters,  it  being  the  general  belief  that  they  were 
special  signs  made  by  the  gods  to  warn  mankind  of  ap- 
proaching troubles  ;  in  all  which  we  see  a  lamentable 
proof  of  the  follies  to  which  even  a  refined  people  may 
be  exposed,  if  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  nature. 

The  superstitious  delusions  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans may  be  said  to  have  died  out  at  the  final  dismem- 
berment of  the  Roman  empire,  and  the  overrunning  of 
Western  Europe  by  the  Gothic  nations.  The  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  also  tended  powerfully  to  root  out 
the  old  superstitious  usages,  though  a  few  survived  to  a 
later  date.  For  these  reasons,  the  superstitions  and 
matters  of  credulous  belief  which  afterwards  affected 
the  people  of  Northern  and  Western  Europe,  including 
the  British  Islands,  were  in  a  great  measure  of  Scandi- 
navian and  Gothic  origin.     The  only  superstitions  of 


262      GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Eastern  growth  worthy  of  mention,  which  were  per- 
petuated in  Europe  generally,  were  astrology,  or  a 
belief  that  the  stars  exercised  an  influence  over  the 
destiny  of  mortals,  and  alchemy,  or  the  pretended  art 
of  transmuting  the  baser  metals  into  gold  ;  both  of 
which  delusions  finally  vanished  before  the  light  of 
knowledge  that  spread  abroad  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries. 

Scandinavian  Superstitions.  —  The  superstitions 
of  the  European  Northmen,  or  Scandinavians,  —  under 
which  term  are  included  the  early  inhabitants  of  Den- 
mark, Norway,  Sweden,  and  Iceland,  —  were  of  a  kind 
remarkably  accordant  with  the  cold  and  stern  charac- 
ter of  the  regions  which  they  occupied.  Like  the  an- 
cient Greeks,  the  Scandinavians  had  seats  of  the  gods 
and  of  the  blest,  which  they  called  Asgard  and  Wal- 
halla,  and  these  bore  the  same  relation  in  their  charac- 
ter to  the  Olympus  and  Elysium  of  the  Greeks,  that 
the  countries  of  the  North,  with  their  stormy  climes, 
their  icy  mountains,  and  perilous  waters,  bore  to  the 
perfumed  and  verdant  plains  of  Hellas,  and  the  fair 
blue  skies  overhanging  the  smooth  Ionian  Sea. 

The  deification  of  one  or  more  great  princes  or  rul- 
ers seems  to  have  constituted  the  basis  of  the  Scaiidi- 
navian,  as  well  as  of  every  other  pagan  mythology. 
Odin,  the  supreme  deity  of  the  Scandinavians,  and  the 
ruler  of  heaven  and  earth,  appears,  like  the  Hellenic 
Jupiter,  to  have  been  a  distinguished  chief  and  warrior 
of  early  times.  Although  it  is  asserted  by  some  that  a 
divinity  of  the  name  of  Odui  was  worshipped  from  the 
most  remote  ages,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
worship  of  this  personage,  in  the  North  at  least,  had  its 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      263 

real  origin  a  few  centuries  before  the  commencement 
of  the  Christian  era,  when  a  powerful  chieftain  of  the 
name  was  driven  by  the  Romans  from  his  dominions 
between  the  Euxine  and  Caspian,  and  took  refuge  in 
Scandinavia,  the  whole  of  which  he  subjected  to  his 
sway.  Like  Mahomet,  this  chief  appears  to  have  es- 
tablished a  new  religion,  of  which  he  himself  assumed 
to  be  the  earthly  head,  as  the  sen^ant  or  minister  of  a 
divine  being  of  the  same  name.  In  the  course  of  time, 
however,  this  distinction  was  entirely  lost,  and  the  per- 
sons and  acts  of  the  divine  and  earthly  Odin  became 
inextricably  blended  in  the  mythology  and  traditions  of 
the  North.  The  great  records  of  the  religious  and  le- 
gendary knowledge  of  the  Scandinavians  are  the 
Eddas  and  Sagas,  still  preserved  in  Iceland,  partly 
written  in  poetry  and  partly  in  prose.  The  oldest  of 
the  Eddas,  a  series  of  poetical  fragments,  was  collected 
from  oral  tradition  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  the 
others  are  of  later  date.  The  acts  of  the  deities 
and  heroes  of  the  North,  the  creation  of  the  world,  and 
prophetic  revelations,  form  the  general  subject  of  these 
pieces. 

Thor  is  described  as  the  god  of  thunder,  and  the 
strongest  of  beings,  earthly  or  heavenly.  He  is  the  son 
of  Odin  and  Frigga,  or,  in  other  words,  of  the  Sun  and 
the  Earth.  When  he  moves,  the  earth  trembles.  He 
holds  in  his  hand  a  powerful  hammer,  called  the 
Crusher,  with  which  he  annihilates  all  who  oppose  him, 
and  who  offend  the  gods.  In  battle  Thor  is  always 
girt  with  a  magic  girdle,  which  has  the  power  of  inspir- 
ing him  with  a  divine  fuiy,  and  redoubling  his  strength. 
On  his  right  hand  he  wears  an  iron  gauntlet,  v.ith  which 


264      GEOGRArHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

he  grasps  and  wields  the  formidable  Crusher.  This 
latter  instrument  was  forged  by  a  dwarf,  named  Sindri, 
the  prototype  of  the  deformed  blacksmith-deities  of  the 
Greeks,  Vulcan  and  his  Cyclops.  The  hammer  pos- 
sesses the  wonderful  power  of  never  missing  its  aim, 
and,  when  launched  at  any  object,  returns  to  the  hand 
of  Thor,  after  having  destroyed  his  foe.  Thor  is  some- 
times called  Aukistor,  or  Thor  of  the  Car,  from  his  rid- 
ing on  a  chariot,  drawn  by  two  powerful  he-goats, 
named  Sangniostr  and  Tangrisner.  This  deity  has  a 
spouse  named  Sipia,  famous  for  her  beautiful  hair. 

After  Odin,  Thor  was  the  most  cherished  deity  of 
Scandinavia,  and  had  statues  and  temples  erected  to 
him  everywhere.  His  statues  were  usually  formed  of 
clay,  and  represented  a  tall  figure,  with  a  red-painted 
beard,  indicative  of  the  lightning  which  he  was  supposed 
to  wield.  Bread  and  meat  were  supplied  daily  to  the 
god  by  his  worshippers,  and  at  stated  times  libations 
v.'ere  poured  out  in  his  honor. 

Balder,  the  second  son  of  Odin,  was  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  amiable  of  the  Aser,  or  gods.  Unlike  the  rest 
of  his  brethren,  he  was  fond  of  peace,  and  had  the 
power  of  allaying  tempests,  and  acting  as  a  mediator, 
to  avert  divine  wrath.  His  decrees  were  irrevocable. 
There  were  various  other  minor  divinities  in  the  Scan- 
dinavian mythology,  though  not  nearly  so  many  as  in 
the  Grecian  roll.  The  deficiency  was  made  up  among 
the  Northerns  by  the  assignment  of  more  multitudinous 
duties  to  the  greater  deities.  Thus  Odin,  from  the  ex- 
tent of  his  government,  received  as  many  as  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  distinct  names,  each  indicating  some 
individual  quality  ascribed  to  him. 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       265 

The  great  hall  appointed  for  the  reception  of  the 
spirits  of  the  brave,  when  they  left  earth  for  the  seat  of 
of  the  gods,  was  called  Valhalla.  Twelve  beautiful  yet 
terrible  nymphs,  named  Valkyries,  were  the  guides  of 
the  good  spirits  to  the  hall  of  Valhalla,  and  supplied 
them  with  mead.  The  occupation  of  drinking  this 
Northern  nectar,  and  of  eating  the  fat  of  the  wild  boar, 
Serimner,  which,  after  serving  as  the  daily  food  of 
thousands,  became  whole  again  every  night,  filled  up 
all  those  intervals  of  time  in  Valhalla  that  were  not 
passed  in  fighting.  None  but  those  who  had  shown 
surpassing  bravery  on  earth  were  admitted  into  this 
Scandinavian  paradise,  and  when  there,  their  daily 
amusement  was  to  fight  with  one  another  till  all  or 
nearly  all  were  cut  in  pieces.  But  little  harm  was 
done  in  this  way,  for  the  spiritual  bodies  soon  reunited, 
and  enabled  the  warriors  to  appear,  entire  in  lithe  and 
limb,  at  the  feasts  that  followed  these  extraordinary  en- 
gagements. The  skulls  of  enemies  Avere  the  drinking- 
cups  used  at  the  entertainments  of  Valhalla,  and  the 
guests  are  described  as  being  almost  perpetually  in  a 
state  of  inebriation.  It  was  only  when  the  cock  an- 
nounced the  arrival  of  morning  that  these  terrible  he- 
roes arose  from  table,  to  issue  to  the  field  of  battle 
through  the  five  hundred  and  forty  gates  of  Valhalla, 
and  hack  each  other  to  pieces  anew.  Such  was  the 
never-ending  round  of  employment  destined  for  the 
departed  heroes  of  Scandinavia. 

The  mythology  of  the  Scandinavians  sui-vived  till  a 
much  later  date  than  any  other  system  of  heathen  wor- 
ship in  Europe.  It  was  not  abolished  till  the  eleventh 
century. 

XX.— 23 


266     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTK. 

Anglo-Saxon  Superstitions.  —  At  a  comparative- 
ly early  era,  the  mythology  and  minor  superstitions  of 
the  Scandinavians,  as  well  as  the  follies  of  Druidism, 
disappeared  in  Britain  as  the  familiar  superstitions  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  became  predominant.  Like  the 
Scandinavians  of  the  North,  the  Anglo-Saxons  deduced 
their  descent  from  Odin,  whom  they  worshipped  along 
with  Thor,  Freya,  and  other  imaginary  deities  of  the 
Gothic  people.  They  also  worshipped  idols  emble- 
matic of  the  sun,  moon,  earth,  and  various  seasons  and 
circumstances.  The  Gothic  nations,  of  whom  the 
Anglo-Saxons  were  a  branch,  had  various  orders  of 
elves,  who  were  understood  to  haunt  the  fields,  the 
woods,  mountains,  and  waters,  and  received  denomina- 
tions accordingly,  as  field-elfin,  dun-elfin,  &c.  Whether 
this  varied  race  of  spirits  originated  in  the  East,  whence 
so  many  superstitions  spread  into  Ancient  Europe,  is 
not  satisfactorily  known,  although  it  is  probable  that 
they  did,  and  were  of  the  same  genus  as  the  peri  of 
the  Persians,  a  being  not  dissimilar  in  character  to  our 
fay,  or  fairy.  Both  in  the  Scandinavian  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  superstitions,  elves  formed  an  important  order 
of  beings,  not  unlike  in  character  to  the  demigods, 
naiads,  driads,  and  other  imaginary  spirits  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  mythologies,  and  like  them  exerted  a  cer- 
tain influence  over  human  affairs. 

Besides  a  belief  in  these  mysterious  elfin  tribes,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  brought  with  them  to  England  the  still 
darker  and  more  dangerous  doctrines  of  witchcraft  and 
divination,  before  which  the  reasoning  powere  of  the 
people  quailed,  and  all  intellectual  advancement  was 
impeded.     The    general   introduction   of  Christianity, 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     267 

about  the  year  BOO,  abolished,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
the  more  gross  pagan  observances,  but  failed  to  extir- 
pate the  familiar  and  less  obvious  superstitions  of  the 
people.  Witchcraft,  wizardry,  magic,  divination,  prep- 
arations of  charms,  and  other  mystic  follies  having  no 
foundation  in  truth,  continued  to  flourish,  although  op- 
posed both  by  the  more  intelligent  clergy  and  the  kings. 
It  is  from  the  statutes,  indeed,  which  Alfred,  Canute, 
and  other  monarchs,  passed  for  the  prevention  of  mag- 
ical practices,  that  we  chiefly  know  their  nature  and 
extent.  IViglaer,  a  wizard,  and  icicca,  a  witch,  are 
persons  severely  denounced.  Penalties  are  enjoined  if 
any  one  should  destroy  another  by  wiccecraeft.  They 
appear  to  have  used  philters,  for  it  is  declared  a  crime 
m  any  one  to  use  witchcraft,  or  potions  to  produce 
another's  love.  Canute  enjoins  his  people  not  to  wor- 
ship fii-e  or  floods, \vells  or  stones,  or  any  sort  of  tree ; 
not  to  frame  death-spells,  either  by  lot  or  otherwise ; 
and  not  to  effect  any  thing  by  phantoms.  Wizards,  we 
also  learn,  pretended  to  the  power  of  lettuig  loose  tem- 
pests, and  controlling  the  visible  operations  of  nature. 

Fairies.  —  Among  the  various  supernaturjil  beings 
to  whom  the  ignorance  and  credulity  of  mankind  have 
given  an  imaginary  existence,  the  fairies  occupy  a 
prominent  place,  and  are  especially  worthy  of  notice. 
The  characters  of  diflerent  classes  of  spirits  have  be- 
come so  mingled  and  confounded  together  in  the  lapse 
of  time,  that  it  is  diflicult  to  define  individual  species 
with  correctness  and  precision ;  but  there  is  one  char- 
acteristic which  appears  to  distinguish  the  fairy  from 
every  other  being  of  a  similar  order.  Most  spirits  could 
contract  and   diminish  their  bulk  at  will,  but  the  fairy 


268      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

alone  seems  to  have  been  regarded  as  essentially  small 
in  size.  The  majority  of  other  spirits,  also,  such  as 
dwarfs,  brownies,  and  the  like,  are  represented  as  de- 
formed creatures,  whereas  the  fairy  has  almost  uniform- 
ly been  described  as  a  beautiful  miniature  of  the  hu- 
man being,  perfect  in  face  and  form.  These  points  of 
distinction,  with  a  dress  of  pure  green,  are  the  principal 
ones  which  mark  the  personal  individuality  of  the  fai- 
ries as  a  supernatural  race. 

The  origin  of  the  fairy  superstition  is  ascribed  by 
most  writers  to  the  Celtic  people,  but  the  blending  of 
the  Gothic  tribes  with  the  Celts  led  to  the  admixture  of 
many  attributes  of  the  Northern  spirits  with  those  proper 
to  the  fairies.  Thus,  the  latter  race,  which  appears  to 
have  been  intrinsically  good  and  benevolent,  has  been 
gifted  with  attributes  of  the  very  opposite  kind,  bor- 
rowed from  the  trolls  and  elves  of  the  North.  In  Scot- 
land, and  other  countries  where  the  Celtic  traditions 
predominated,  the  fairies  retained,  in  part,  the  original 
and  better  features  of  their  character,  and  were  usually 
called  the  Good  Neighbours,  or  the  Men  of  Peace ;  but 
even  there,  their  character  was  deteriorated  by  a  con- 
siderable leaven  of  elfin  or  dwarfish  malignancy.  This 
evil  part  of  their  nature  caused  much  annoyance  to 
mankind,  and,  more  especially,  their  propensity  to  the 
kidnapping  of  human  beings.  Unchristened  infants 
were  chiefly  liable  to  this  calamity,  but  sometimes  adult 
men  and  women  were  also  carried  off.  They  also 
kidnapped  young  married  women  to  be  nurses  to 
their  infants. 

The  necessity  for  the  latter  kind  of  kidnapping 
shows  the  fairies  to  have  heenfcwiily  people.     They 


GEOGUAnilCAL    VIEW    OF     THE    EARTH.  269 

are  always  represented  as  living,  like  mankind,  in  large 
societies,  and  under  a  monarchical  form  of  govern 
ment.  The  Salic  law  seems  to  have  had  no  coun 
tenance  among  them,  for  we  more  often  hear  of  fairj. 
queens  than  of  fairy  kings,  though  both  are  frequently 
spoken  of.  The  Land  of  Faerie  was  situated  somewhere 
under  ground,  and  there  the  royal  fairies  held  their 
court.  In  their  palaces  all  was  beauty  and  splendor. 
Their  pageants  and  processions  were  far  more  mag- 
nificent than  any  that  Eastern  sovereigns  could  get  up, 
or  poets  devise.  They  rode  upon  milk-white  steeds 
Their  dresses,  of  brilliant  green,  were  rich  beyond 
conception  ;  and  when  they  mingled  in  the  dance,  or 
moved  in  procession  among  the  shady  groves,  or  over 
the  verdant  lawns  of  earth,  they  were  entertained 
with  dehcious  music,  such  as  mortal  lips  or  hands 
never  could  emit  or  produce.  At  the  same  time,  most 
of  the  legendary  tales  on  the  subject  represent  these 
splendors  as  shadowy  and  unsubstantial.  When  the 
eye  of  a  seer,  or  any  one  gifted  with  supernatural 
powers,  was  turned  upon  the  fairy  pageantries  or  ban- 
quets, the  Illusion  vanished. 

Numberless  stories  of  a  ridiculous  kind  have  been 
told  relative  to  the  intercourse  of  the  fairies  with  man- 
kind. Some  of  the  poor  creatures  arraigned  in  Scot- 
land, in  past  times,  for  witchcraft,  admitted  having  had 
correspondence  with  the  fairies.  The  trials  of  Bessie 
Dunlop  and  Alison  Pearson,  in  the  years  1576  and 
15S8,  illustrate  this  statement.  The  former  avowed 
that  her  familiar  was  one  Thome  Reid,  the  ghost  of  a 
soldier  slain  at  Pinkie  in  1547,  and  who  after  his 
death  seems  to  have  become  an  inmate  of  Elf-land. 
23* 


270      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

She  related  that  this  Thome  Reid,  who  appeared  fre- 
quently to  her  in  the  likeness  of  an  elderly  man,  gray- 
coated  and  gray-bearded,  v.ished  her  to  go  with  him 
to  the  fairy  countiy,  and  gave  her  herbs  to  cure  vari- 
ous diseases.  He  even  once  brought  to  her  the  queen 
of  the  fair'  ?s,  who,  to  the  confusion  of  poetry,  was  a 
fat  womap  fond  of  ale,  and,  in  short,  most  unlike  the 
Titania  of  romance.  Alison  Pearson  also  admitted  her 
familiarity  with  the  fairies,  from  whom  she  frequently 
received  herbs  for  the  cure  of  disease. 

It  may  not  be  improper  in  this  place  to  allude  to  the 
fancies  of  the  poets  on  the  subject  of  the  fairies, 
Shakspeare  stands  preeminent  in  this  department.  His 
"  Midsummer  Night's  Dream "  is  a  poem  of  exquis- 
ite beauty,  and  one  corresponding  in  every  respect 
with  the  delicately  fanciful  nature  of  the  subject.  In 
"  Romeo  and  Juliet,"  he  has  also  described  an  important 
fairy,  Queen  Mab,  who  has  almost  dethroned  Titania 
of  late  years.  Mr.  Tennant's  "  Anstcr  Fair  "  has  been 
of  great  avail  to  the  fame  of  Mab.  Whoever  chooses 
o  consult  Drayton  and  the  poets  mentioned,  will  have 
vhe  pleasure  of  obser\'ing  and  enjoying  the  exercise 
of  poetical  fancy  of  the  highest  order  on  the  subject 
of  fairies. 

The  superstitions  now  described  are  not  yet  extinct 
in  the  British  Islands.  In  Ireland,  the  Scottish  High- 
lands, and  Wales,  in  particular,  the  fairies  are  yet  ob- 
jects of  general  belief.  Education  has  not  yet  shed  its 
enlightening  influence  there,  and  by  education  alone 
can  the  darkness  of  superstition  be  dispelled.  This  is  al- 
most a  truism,  for  superstition  and  ignorance  are  noth- 
mg  else  than  equivalent  terms.     The  spirit  is  abroad, 


GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    Till?    £AKTH.  271 

however,  which  will  extinguish  this  remnant  of  har- 
barism,  and  it  is  consoHng  to  think  so,  ibr  the  ills 
which  have  flowed  from  this  source  are  numberless. 

Witchcraft.  —  An  old  writer,  speaking  of  the 
powers  of  witches,  says,  —  "  1.  Some  work  their  be- 
witchings  only  by  way  of  invocation  or  imprecation. 
They  wish  it,  or  will  it ;  and  so  it  falls  out.  2.  Some, 
by  way  of  emissary,  sending  out  their  imps,  or  fa- 
miliars, to  crosse  the  way,  justle,  affront,  flash  in  the 
face,  barke,  howle,  bite,  scratch,  or  otherwise  infest. 
3.  Some  by  inspecting,  or  looking  on,  or  to  glare,  or 
peep  at  with  an  envious  and  evil  eye.  4.  Some  by  a 
hollow  muttering  or  mumbling.  5.  Some  by  breathing 
and  blowing  on.  6.  Some  by  cursing  and  banning. 
7.  Some  by  blessing  and  praising.  8.  Some  revenge- 
fully, by  occasion  of  ill  turnes.  9.  Some  ingratefully, 
and  by  occasion  of  good  turnes.  10.  Some  by  leaving 
something  of  theirs  in  your  house.  11.  Some  by  get- 
ting something  of  yours  into  their  house.  12.  Some 
have  a  more  speciall  way  of  working  by  severall  ele- 
ments, —  earth,  water,  ayre,  or  fire.  But  who  can 
tell  all  the  manner  of  wayes  of  a  witch's  working ; 
that  works  not  only  darkly  and  closely,  but  variously 
and  versatilly,  as  God  will  permit,  the  devil  can  sug- 
gest, or  the  malicious  hag  devise  to  put  in  prac- 
tice ?  " 

In  the  present  age  of  comparative  intelligence,  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  how  human  beings  could  be  so 
deplorably  ignorant  as  to  entertain  such  a  gross  super- 
stition. We  must,  however,  recollect  that  the  belief 
was  greatly  fostered  by  religious  impressions,  and  that 
it  was  long   considered   a   mark  of  impiety  to  doubt 


272  GEOG?.^l'IIJCAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EAKTII. 

the  existence   of  witches.     Various  other  circumstan- 
ces helped  to  cherish  and  magnify  the  error. 

The  superstition  seems  to  liave  approached  its  height 
about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  his  bull  of 
1484,  Pope  Innocent  charged  inquisitors  and  others  to 
discover  and  destroy  all  such  as  were  guilty  of  witch- 
craft. This  commission  was  put  into  the  hands  of  a 
wretch  called  Sprenger,  with  directions  that  it  should 
be  put  in  force  to  its  fullest  extent.  Immediately  there 
followed  a  regular  form  of  process  and  trial  for  sus- 
pected witches,  entitled  Malleus  M(deficaru?n,  or  a  Ham- 
mer for  Witches,  upon  which  all  judges  were  called 
scrupulously  to  act.  The  edict  of  1484  was  sub- 
sequently enforced  by  a  bull  of  Alexander  the  Sixth, 
m  1494,  of  Leo  the  Tenth,  in  1521,  and  of  Adrian 
the  Sixth,  in  1522,  each  adding  strength  to  its  prede- 
cessor, and  the  whole  serving  to  increase  the  agitation 
of  the  public  mind  upon  the  subject.  The  results  were 
dreadful.  A  panic  fear  of  witchcraft  took  possession 
of  society.  Every  one  was  at  the  mercy  of  his  neigh- 
bour. If  any  one  felt  an  unaccountable  illness,  or  a 
peculiar  pain  in  any  part  of  his  body,  or  suffered  any 
misfortune  in  his  family  or  affaire,  or  if  a  storm  arose 
and  committed  any  damage  by  sea  or  land,  or  if  any 
catde  died  suddenly,  or,  in  short,  if  any  event,  circum- 
stance, or  thing  occurred  out  of  the  ordinary  routine 
of  daily  experience,  the  cause  of  it  was  withcraft. 
To  be  accused  was  to  be  doomed,  for  it  rarely  hap- 
pened that  proof  was  wanting,  or  that  condemnation 
was  not  followed  by  execution.  Armed  with  the  Mal- 
leus Malcfimrum.,  the  judge  had  no  difficulty  in  finding 
reasons  for  sending  the  most  innocent  to  the  stake 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     273 

If  the  accused  did  not  at  once  confess,  they  were 
ordered  to  be  shaved  and  closely  examined  for  the  dis- 
covery of  devil's  marks  ;  it  being  a  tenet  in  the  delu- 
sion that  the  devil,  on  inaugurating  any  witch,  im- 
pressed certain  marks  on  her  person ;  and  if  any 
strange  mark  was  discovered,  there  remained  no  longer 
any  doubt  of  the  party's  guilt.  Failing  this  kind  of 
evidence,  torture  was  applied,  and  this  seldom  failed 
to  extort  the  desired  confession  from  the  unhappy  vic- 
tim. A  large  proportion  of  the  accused  witches,  in 
order  to  avoid  these  preliminary  horrors,  confessed  the 
crime  in  any  terms  which  were  dictated  to  them,  and 
were  forthwith  led  to  execution.  Other  witches,  as 
has  been  said,  seemed  to  confess  voluntarily,  being 
probably  either  insane  persons,  or  feeble-minded  beings, 
whose  reason  had  been  distorted  by  brooding  over  the 
popular  witchcraft  code.  A  few  extracts  from  the 
work  of  Dr.  Hutchinson  will  show  the  extent  of  these 
proceedings  in  Italy  :  — 

"  A.  D.  1485.  —  Cumanas,  an  inquisitor,  burnt  forty- 
one  poor  women  for  witches,  in  the  county  of  Burlia, 
in  one  year.  He  caused  them  to  be  shaven  first,  that 
they  may  be  searched. for  marks.  He  continued  the 
prosecutions  in  the  year  following,  and  many  fled  out 
of  the  country. 

"  About  this  time,  Alciat,  a  famous  lawyer,  in  his 
Parergu,  says,  '  One  inquisitor  burnt  a  hundred  in 
Piedmont,  and  proceeded  daily  to  burn  more,  till  the 
people  rose  against  the  inquisitor,  and  chased  him  ou( 
of  the  country.' 

"  A.  D.  1488.  —A  violent  tempest  gf  thunder  an(> 
lightning  in   Constance    destroyed   the   corn   for  fou 
18 


274     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

leagues  round.  The  people  accused  one  Anne  Mm- 
delin,  and  one  Agnes,  for  being  the  cause  of  it.  They 
confessed,  and  were  burnt. 

"  About  this  time,  H.  Institor  says,  one  of  the  inquisi- 
tors came  to  a  certain  town,  that  was  almost  desolate 
with  plague  and  famine.  The  report  went,  that  a  cer- 
tain woman,  buried  not  long  before,  was  eating  up 
her  winding-sheet,  and  that  the  plague  would  not  cease 
till  she  had  made  an  end  of  it.  This  matter  being 
taken  into  consideration,  Scultetus,  with  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  city,  opened  the  grave,  "and  found 
that  she  had  indeed  swallowed  and  devoured  one  half 
of  her  winding-sheet.  Scultetus,  moved  with  horror 
at  the  thing,  drew  out  his  sword,  and  cut  off  her  head, 
and  threw  it  into  a  ditch,  and  immediately  the  plague 
ceased !  and,  the  inquisition  sitting  upon  the  case,  it 
was  found  that  she  had  long  been  a  reputed  witch. 

"  A.  D.  1524.  —  About  this  time  a  thousand  were 
burned  in  one  year,  in  the  diocese  of  Como,  and  a 
hundred  per  annum  for  several  years  together.'" 

From  other  authorities  it  is  learned  that  tlie  devas- 
tation was  as  great  in  Spain,  France,  and  Northern 
Germany,  as  it  was  in  the  Italian  States.  About  the 
year  1515,  five  hundred  witches  were  burned  in  Gene- 
va in  three  months,  and  in  France  many  thousands. 

In  Germany,  to  which,  indeed,  the  bull  of  Innocent 
bore  particular  reference,  this  plague  raged  to  a  degree 
almost  inconceivable.  Bainberg,  Paderborn,  Wurtz- 
berg,  and  Treves  were  its  chief  seats,  though  for  a 
century  and  a  half  after  the  introduction  of  the  trials 
under  the  commission,  no  quarter  of  that  great  empire 
was  free  from  its  baneful  influence.     It  has  been  esti- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      275 

mated  that  100,000  persons  were  executed  in  Ger- 
many during  this  delusion. 

Nor  were  th«  more  enlightened  parts  of  Europe  less 
afflicted  by  this  fearful  mania.  It  raged  in  Scotland, 
and  it  is  estimated  that  four  thousand  persons  became 
its  victims.  In  England  it  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  gravest  persons.  In  the  time  of  Henry  the  Eighth, 
two  acts  were  levelled  against  witches  and  conjurors, 
and  from  this  period  down  to  1751,  when  the  last  exe- 
cution took  place  in  the  person  of  a  woman  by  tne 
name  of  Osborn,  who  was  so  injured  by  the  mob  as 
to  die  soon  after,  several  thousands  were  executed  for 
this  imaginary  and  impossible  crime  !  How  serious  the 
lesson  which  this  point  of  history  enforces  upon  man- 
kind,—  for  Catholics  and  Protestants, — kings,  lords, 
and  commons,  —  the  learned  and  the  illiterate,  —  were 
all  involved  in  the  illusion,  and  became  parties  to  its 
atrocities.  Nor  was  New  England,  the  land  of  the  Pil- 
grims, free  from  the  infection,  as  the  well  known  rec- 
ords of  Salem  and  Danvers  can  tell.* 

Spectral  Illusions,  or  Ghosts,  &c.  —  The  sub- 
ject of  spectral  illusions,  or,  to  use  the  common  phra- 
seology, apparitions  or  spectres,  is  now,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  scientific  and  properly  informed  men,  one  of 
the  simplest  and  most  intelligible  to  which  the  mind 
can  be  directed  ;  while,  to  the  ignorant,  it  stilly  ap- 
pears full  of  doubt  and  mystery.  An  apparition,  spec- 
tre, ghost,  or  whatever  it  may  be  called,  is  vulgarly 
supposed  to  be  a  supernatural  appearance,  —  a  thing 

*  For  an  account  of  witclicraft  in  New  England,  see  "  Lights 
and  Shadows  of  American  History." 


276      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

occurring  out  of  the  common  order  of  nature.  No 
particular  time  or  place  is  assigned  for  the  appearance ; 
but  we  may  observe  that  the  time  is  usually  evening 
or  night,  and  the  place  solitary,  or  apart  from  the  busy 
haunts  of  man.  According  to  old  theories  on  the  sub- 
ject, the  person  who  declared  that  he  had  seen  such 
an  appearance  was  either  set  down  as  the  fabricator 
of  an  untruth,  or  his  story  was  fondly  believed,  and 
in  the  latter  case  the  supernatural  incident  was  add- 
ed to  the  mass  of  credible  history.  It  is  more 
easy  to  set  this  conflict  of  testimony  and  opinion  to 
rights.  In  all  cases,  it  is  quite  possible  for  the  de- 
clarant to  speak  the  truth  as  respects  what  he  saw,  or 
thought  he  saw,  and  yet  that  no  real  apparition  may 
have  occurred.  The  whole  affair,  is  simply  a  mental 
delusion,  caused  by  some  species  of  disease  in  the  or 
gans  which  affect  the  vision.  Yet  the  belief  in  ghosts 
and  apparitions  has  been  almost  universal,  and  even 
Dr.  Johnson  was  a  firm  advocate  of  their  reality. 

Second- Sight.  —  Second-sight,  taking  the  word  in 
its  common  acceptation  of  supernatural  sight-seeing, 
is  one  of  the  varieties  of  spectral  illusion.  Certain 
mental  functions  becoming  diseased,  the  sense  of  sight 
is  imposed  upon  by  the  appearance  of  things  which 
are  purely  imaginaiy,  but  nevertheless  supposed  to  be 
prophetic  of  future  events.  Idleness,  solitude,  insuffi- 
cient diet,  and  an  imagination  led  astray  by  ruminating 
too  intensely  on  the  causes  of  human  weal  and  woe, 
may  be  assigned  as  the  prevailing  causes  of  the  dis- 
ease. The  Lowland  Scotch  used  occasionally  to  see 
wraiths,  or  spectral  appearances  of  persons  who  were 
soon  to  quit  this  mortal  scene ;  the  Irish-^ere  also 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      277 

accustomed  to  the  spectacle  of  fetches ;  and  the  High- 
landers hSiA  iheiv  second-sight,  —  the  whole,  be  it  ob- 
served, being  but  a  variety  of  the  same  mental  disease 
and  delusion. 

Second-sight,  however,  has  formed  the  subject  of  a 
more  regular  profession  than  any  other  species  of  spec- 
tral frenzy.  There  were  persons,  who,  possessing 
from  infancy  a  defective  mental  constitution,  or  having 
a  taste  for  imposture,  gave  themselves  out  as  habitual 
sight-seers,  and  were  reverenced  accordingly  by  their 
unsophisticated  neighbours.  According  to  the  credu- 
lous accounts  of  second-sight,  the  power  of  the  seer 
is  a  natural  endowment,  and  cannot  be  acquired  by 
communication,  or  in  any  other  way.  It  is  usually 
talked  of  by  its  possessors  as  a  painful  and  trouble- 
some gift,  and  one  which  they  would  gladly  be  rid  of, 
if  they  could.  Its  vaticinations  relate  only  to  things 
to  come,  and  not  to  past  events.  Young  and  old .  may 
alike  possess  the  second-sight,  and  it  is  common,  also, 
to  men  and  women.  The  visions  are  sometimes  predi- 
cative of  good,  and  sometimes  of  evil.  Occasionally, 
the  vision  simply  gives  indifferent  tidings. 

Miscellaneous  Superstitions. —  During  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  belief  in  witchcraft,  fairies,  appa- 
ritions, charms,  and  every  other  species  of  supernatural 
agency,  was  still  universal  in  Britain,  both  among  high 
and  low,  clergy  as  well  as  laity.  So  ill  instructed 
were  the  people  in  the  art  of  tracing  events  to  simple 
natural  causes,  that  there  appears  to  have  been  a  contin- 
ual liability  to  ascribe  occurrences  to  the  direct  influence 
of  good  or  evil  spirits,  but  particularly  to  the  Devil. 
"  Give  me  leave,"  says  a  respectable  writer  of  that 
XX.— 24 


278  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

age,  "  here  to  relate  a  passage,  which  I  received  from 
a  person  of  quality,  namely :  —  It  was  believed,  and 
that  not  without  good  cause,  that  Cromwell,  the  same 
morning  that  he  defeated  the  king's  army  at  Worcester 
fight,  had  conference  personally  with  the  Devil,  with 
whom  he  made  a  contract,  that  to  have  his  will  then, 
and  in  all  things  else,  for  seven  years  after  that  time 
(being  the  3d  of  September,  1651),  he  should,  at  the 
expiration  of  the  said  years,  have  him  at  his  command, 
to  do  at  his  pleasure,  both  with  his  soul  and  body. 
Now,  if  any  one  will  please  to  reckon  from  the  3d  of 
September,  1651,  till  the  3d  of  September,  1658,  he 
shall  find  it  to  a  day  just  seven  years,  and  no  more,  at 
the  end  whereof  he  died  ;  but  with  such  extremity  of 
tempestuous  weather,  that  was  by  all  men  judged  to 
be  prodigious."  Such  is  a  specimen  of  the  egregious 
fallacies  which  passed  for  sound  argument  among  our 
ancestors. 

In  Scotland,  where  religion  assumed  the  garb  of 
gloom  and  fanaticism,  a  belief  in  the  personal  appear- 
ance of  devils  was  universal  in  the  seventeenth  centu- 
ry, and  continued  among  the  vulgar  till  within  the  last 
fifty  years.  The  narrations  of  Satan's  mean  pranks, 
in  assaulting  ministers,  waylaying  travellers,  and  dis- 
.turbing  families  while  at  worship,  would  fill  a  large 
volume.  In  the  Rev.  Mr.  Robert  Law's  "  Memorials  of 
Memorable  Things,  from  1638  to  1684,"  we  find  the 
following  entry :  — 

"  October,  1670.  —  There  was  a  devill  that  troubled 
a  house  in.  Kcppoch,  within  a  mile  of  Glasgow,  for 
the  matter  of  eight  days  tyme  (but  disappeared  again), 
in  casting  pots,  and  dropping  stones  from  the  roof,  yet 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH.     279 

not  hurting  any,  like  that  which  appeared  in  the  West, 
in  a  weaver's  house,  a  good  man,  about  fourteen  yeirs 
agoe,  which  did  the  lyke,  and  spoke  to  them  audibly," 
The  tricks  of  the  devil  here  referred  to  as  having 
taken  place  in  a  weaver's  house  in  the  West,  about  the 
year  1656,  and  which  were  implicitly  believed  by  the 
most  learned  clergy  of  the  time,  are  related  at  great 
length  by  Mr.  George  Sinclair,  Professor  of  Philosphy 
in  the  College  of  Glasgow,  in  his  work,  "  Satan's  In- 
visible World  Discovered." 

Besides  the  belief  in  aerial  and  terrestrial  spirits,  our 
credulous  ancestors  put  faith  in  all  kinds  of  romancing 
stories  of  river  and  sea  demons.  The  more  prevalent 
of  these  superstitious  notions  was  a  belief  in  mermaids 
and  mermen,  a  class  of  creatures  who  lived  in  the  sea, 
and  had  bodies  half  human,  half  fish.  Mermaids  ap- 
pear to  have  been  much  more  common  than  mermen. 
The  mermaid,  we  are  told,  possessed  the  body,  from 
the  middle  upwards,  of  a  beautiful  female,  with  a  head 
flowing  with  long,  yellow  hair,  which  she  incessantly 
combed  with  one  hand,  while  she  hel(^  a  small  mirror 
with  the  other.  This  female  monster  of  the  deep  is 
described  as  having  been  a  constant  schemer  of  de- 
struction to  confiding  navigators,  or  those  who  haunted 
unfrequented  parts  of  the  sea-shores. 

Another  of  the  vulgar  superstitions  of  our  ancestors 
was  a  belief  common  to  nations  of  Germanic  origin, 
that  the  corpse  of  a  murdered  person  would  bleed  on 
being  touched  by  the  person  who  was  guilty  of  the 
murder.  Strange  to  say,  this  species  of  evidence  of 
cruilt  was  at  one  time  admitted  in  the  Scottish  criminal 
courts.    The  following  extraordinary  instance  was  com- 


280  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

municated  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  is  given  in  his 
"Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border."  "Two  young 
men,  going  a-fishing  in  the  River  Yarrow,  fell  out,  and 
so  high  ran  the  quarrel,  that  the  one,  in  a  passion,  stab- 
bed the  other  to  the  heart.  Astonished  at  the  rash  act, 
he  hesitated  whether  to  fly,  to  give  himself  up  to  jus- 
tice, or  conceal  the  crime  ;  and  in  the  end  fixed  on  the 
latter  expedient,  burying  the  body  of  his  friend  very 
deep  in  the  sands.  As  the  meeting  had  been  acciden- 
tal, he  was  never  suspected,  although  a  visible  change 
was  observed  in  his  behaviour,  from  gayety  to  a  settled 
melancholy.  Time  passed  on  for  the  space  of  fifty 
years,  when  a  smith,  fishing  near  the  same  place,  dis- 
covered an  uncommon  and  curious  bone,  which  he 
put  in  his  pocket,  and  afterwards  showed  to  some 
people  in  his  smithy.  The  murderer  being  present, 
now  an  old,  white-headed  man,  leaning  on  his  staflT,  de- 
sired a  sight  of  the  little  bone ;  but  how  horrible  was 
the  issue  !  —  no  sooner  had  he  touched  it,  than  it 
streamed  with  purple  blood.  Being  told  where  it  was 
found,  he  confessed  the  crime,  was  condemned,  but 
was  prevented  by  death  from  sufTering  the  punishment 
due  to  his  crime."  We  need  only  add,  that  no  evi- 
dence IS  given  of  the  truth  of  this  improbable  tale,  and 
it  is  utterly  unworthy  of  belief. 

The  occurrence,  in  1840,  of  a  fatal  disease  in  cattle, 
called  the  murrain^  and  which  was  susceptible  of 
remedy  by  proper  surgical  means,  led  to  the  exposure 
of  various  superstitious  observances  among  a  respecta- 
ble class  of  the  rural  population  of  England.  In 
Northumberland,  a  fire  kindled  by  rubbing  together 
two  pieces  of  hard  wood  was  carried  about  in  an  old 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAETH.      281 

shoe  from  one  house  to  another,  and  thus  passed  through 
the  country ;  with  this  a  bonfire  was  Hghted,  and  the 
cattle  were  made  to  pass  through  its  smoke,  which  was 
supposed  to  render  them  invulnerable  to  the  attacks  of 
the  disease. 

In  Scotland,  cattle  are  the  subject  of  scarcely  less 
superstitious  maxims.  In  many  districts,  if  a  cow  has 
been  seized  with  phthisis  pulmonalis,  or  any  inflamma- 
tory disorder,  or  if  she  has  become  hide-bound,  or  rumi- 
nation has  been  accidentally  stopped,  the  wise  people 
called  in  to  minister  know  but  one  explication  of  the 
mystery  :  the  beast  has  got  the  tail-ill.  This  is  an 
imaginary  disorder  supposed  to  reside  in  the  tail,  and 
to  show  itself  by  eating  away  the  bone  of  that  organ. 
To  prove  its  presence,  the  cow-doctor  will  ask  the 
owner  of  the  animal  to  feel  the  tail  near  its  extremity, 
and  satisfy  himself  that  the  bone  is  "  clean  awa',"  the 
fact  being  that  in  that  region  there  is  only  a  soft  carti- 
lage. Under  this  miserable  delusion,  the  people  make 
incisions  in  the  tails  of  cattle,  into  which  they  rub  salt, 
soot,  or  horse-turpentine,  thus  adding  to  the  pains  of 
the  animal,  without  doing  the  least  for  the  relief  of  the 
real  malady.  Often  a  considerable  portion  of  the  tail 
is  cut  off,  by  way  of  making  the  cure  more  certain. 
In  some  cow-houses  in  Scotland,  there  is  not  a  cow 
with  a  tail  above  sixteen  inches  long. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  this  list  of  superstitions, 
nor  should  we  be  obliged  to  go  beyond  our  own  vicin- 
ity to  cite  cases  as  absurd  as  those  we  have  drawn 
from  foreign  countries.  In  respect  to  religion,  some 
curious  instances  of  delusion  have  recently  been  man- 
ifested in  the  United  States,  and  have  involved  multt- 
24* 


282     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

ludes  of  persons  enjoying  the  highest  advantages  of 
intellectual  and  moral  light  in  their  bewildering  fasci- 
nations. A  kw  years  since,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Miller  announced  that  he  had  deciphered  the  proph- 
ecies of  the  Old  Testament,  foretelling  the  doom  of  the 
human  race  and  the  end  of  the  world ;  and  that  their 
fulfilment  was  to  take  place  a  particular  day  in  I\Iarch, 
1843.  His  preaching  attracted  vast  crowds,  and  pro- 
duced great  excitement,  in  various  parts  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  even  in  other  States.  A  sect  was  soon 
formed,  a  newspaper  established,  books  of  worship  pre- 
pared, and  a  large  edifice  in  Boston,  called  the  Taber- 
nacle, was  constructed  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
worshippers.  The  belief  of  the  reality  of  the  coming 
destruction  was  ardently  embraced  by  thousands  ;  and 
some  prepared  their  white  robes  in  which  they  were  to 
ascend  to  heaven,  of  course  leaving  the  wicked  behind 
to  be  consumed ;  hundreds  closed  their  offices ;  and 
multitudes  left  off  work  and  gave  themselves  up  to  re- 
ligious contemplations  ;  and  many  gave  their  property 
into  the  common  stock,  to  be  used  till  the  appointed 
consummation,  when  it  would  be  no  further  needed. 

The  subjects  of  this  strange  delusion  —  looking  with 
pitying  contempt  upon  the  unbelieving  world  —  waited 
for  the  day  of  doom ;  but,  instead  of  the  tempest 
and  the  fire  and  the  whirlwind,  it  brought  a  serene  sky 
and  a  tranquil  atmosphere.  The  time  passed  by,  — 
but  the  illusion  had  taken  a  firm  hold  of  the  minds  of 
the  Millerites ;  or,  if  this  -was  shaken,  their  pride  was 
enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  destruction  of  the  world. 
They  even  seemed  chagrined  that  the  awful  conflagra- 
lion  had  not  taken  place,  and,  as  if  determined  that  ii 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     283 

should  come,  at  all  events,  they  assembled  in  crowds, 
praying  and  wailing,  day  and  night.  Their  leaders 
even  fixed  another  and  another  day,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  events  had  several  times  belied  these  profane  and 
audacious  predictions,  that  the  illusion  began  to  fade 
from  the  minds  of  its  unhappy  victims.  Even  now, 
many  hold  on  to  the  belief  they  have  adopted,  it  being 
only  modified  by  supposing  that,  while  the  precise  hour 
is  not  yet  revealed,  the  time  of  the  great  catastrophe 
is  near  at  hand. 

There  is  a  still  more  humiliating  instance  of  popu- 
lar delusion  to  be  recorded  in  the  history  of  our  own 
times.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Joseph  Smith,  a  native 
of  Vermont,  pretended,  some  fifteen  years  ago,  to  have 
discovered  certain  brass  plates,  which  had  lain  for  a 
long  period  in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  which  he  intimated  were  brought  thither  by 
the  descendants  of  the  Jews.  Upon  them  he  discerned 
certain  mystical  inscriptions,  which,  by  the  inspiration 
of  God,  he  was  enabled  to  translate.  This  revelation 
he  entitled  the  "  Book  of  Mormon."  Thus  began  the 
modern  sect  of  the  Mormons,  which  now  numbers  in 
its  ranks  some  thousands,  and  has  its  churches  not  only 
in  several  of  our  States,  but  in  Great  Britain ! 

Smith  continued  to  be  the  head  and  prophet  of  the 
new  religion  ;  and  though  his  life  was  marked  with  the 
coarsest  vices,  and  the  most  vulgar  eccentricities,  the 
"  Latter  Day  Saints "  continued  to  increase,  and  the 
city  of  Nauvoo,  in  Illinois,  which  is  the  Mecca  of  the 
faithful,  has  become  a  large  and  flourishing  city.  The 
following  is  a  recent  descriotion  of  this  remarkable 
place  •  — 


284      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

"  The  city  limits  are  four  miles  long  and  three  in 
breadth.  At  the  end  of  three  years  from  its  establish- 
ment, it  contained  one  thousand  houses,  chiefly  white- 
washed log  cabins,  with  a  few  framed  and  brick  houses. 
The  public  buildings  are  the  Nauvoo  House,  a  spa- 
cious hotel,  fronting  on  two  streets,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  on  each,  forty  feet  wide,  and  three  stories 
high  above  the  basement.  In  this  building,  Joe  Smith, 
the  pretended  prophet  and  leader  of  these  Latter  Day 
Saints,  is  furnished  with  a  suite  of  rooms.  The 
Nauvoo  Temple^  not  yet  completed,  will  be  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  long,  and  one  hundred  feet  wide.  In 
the  basement  is  a  baptistery,  supported  on  twelve 
gilded  oxen,  the  model  of  which  is  derived  from  the 
brazen  sea  of  Solomon.  The  Nauvoo  legion  consists 
of  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  men,  with 
proper  officers,  armed  and  disciplined.  They  have  a 
university,  which  has  a  president,  a  professor  of 
mathematics  and  English  literature,  a  professor  of  the 
learned  languages,  and  a  professor  of  church  history. 
The  city  is  laid  out  with  streets  of  ample  width,  cross- 
ing each  other  at  right  angles.  This  property  is  held 
as  private  ;  but  they  have  a  large  farm  without  the  city, 
which  is  occupied  and  cultivated  in  common.  The 
population  within  the  city  limits  is  about  seven  thou- 
sand, many  of  whom  ore  from  England,  besides  about 
three  thousand  of  the  fraternity,  who  reside  in  the  vi- 
cinity. The  city  has  a  mayor,  and  is  divided  into  four 
wards,  having  two  aldermen,  four  common-council- 
men,  and  a  constable  for  each  of  the  wards.  The  city 
is  a  curiosity,  and  the  success  of  its  leader  has  scarcely 
been  paralleled  since  that  of  the  prophet  of  Arabia." 


GEOGKAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      285 

In  1844,  Smith  was  taken,  upon  some  charge,  by  the 
civil  magistrates  of  lUinois,  and  while  in  custody  he 
was  shot  by  some  persons  in  disguise.  He  fell,  pierced 
with  several  balls;  but  his  spirit  seems  still  to  dwell 
with  the  church  he  has  founded,  and  no  one  can  tell 
how  long  the  bald  and  barefaced  cheat  he  has  imposed 
upon  the  world  may  continue  to  lead  his  followers  into 
captivity  to  sin  and  death. 

These,  and  other  similar  instances  in  which  human 
history  abounds,  are  sufficient  to  warn  mankind  that 
enemies  without  and  enemies  within  make  a  large  part 
of  the  human  race  the  slaves  of  folly  and  delusion. 
It  does  not  abate  our  mortification,  when  we  look  upon 
the  world,  to  know,  that  of  all  delusions  the  most  com- 
mon and  the  most  fatal  is  self-deception.  What  a  mys- 
tery, —  what  a  paradox,  —  that  mankind  should  seri- 
ously set  about  cheating  themselves.  Yet  this  will  be 
found  to  be  a  large  ingredient  in  most  of  the  delusions 
found  in  the  earth  ! 

Manias.  —  As  there  are  many  instances  on  record 
in  which  the  bodies  of  men  have  been  afflicted  by  ep- 
idemic diseases,  so  there  are  many  in  which  their 
minds  have  been  affected  by  pervading  delusions.  As 
the  horses  of  the  West  are  said  to  be  sometimes  beset 
with  a  stampede,  so  human  society  is  often  carried 
away  by  manias.  This  species  of  madness  manifests 
itself  on  all  kinds  of  subjects,  but  in  none  are  its  tricks 
more  fantastic  than  in  relation  to  money  speculations. 
The  operations  among  ourselves,  in  1836,  in  respect  to 
Eastern  lands,  afford  i  striking  instance  of  this  sort. 
The    "  Mississippi    Scheme,"  *    and    the  "  South  Sea 

*  For  an.  account  of  tlie  "Mississippi  Scheme,"  see  article 
John  Late,  in  "  Curiosities  of  Human  Nature  ;  "  and  for  an  ac 


QS6      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAKTH. 

Bubble,"  are  also  notable  examples  of  the  same  kind. 
The  "  Tulip  Mania,"  which  took  place  in  Holland,  about 
the  year  1635,  is  less  generally  known,  while  it  still 
more  strikingly  illustrates  the  tendency  of  mankind  to 
this  species  of  illusion. 

The  tulip  was  introduced  from  Constantinople  into 
France  and  Holland  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
In  the  latter  country  great  attention  was  paid  to  its  cul- 
tivation, and,  in  the  year  1634,  most  extraordinary  spec- 
ulations were  entered  into  with  respect  to  the  roots  of 
these  plants.  These  were  sold  and  resold  at  enormous 
prices,  in  the  same  manner  as  public  stocks  are  at  the 
present  day.  The  value  of  the  bulbs  lay  in  the  pas- 
sion for  them  that  raged  in  the  community,  and  partic- 
ular kinds  were  so  much  esteemed,  that  a  single  root 
of  one  species  was  sometimes  sold  at  the  enormous 
price  of  a  thousand  dollars. 

After  the  speculation  began,  it  raged  for  three  or 
four  years.  A  single  root  of  the  species  called  Semper 
Augustus  was  often  sold  at  the  price  of  eight  hundred 
dollars.  It  once  happened  that  only  two  bulbs  of  this 
kind  were  to  be  had.  One  was  sold  for  nine  hvuidred 
dollars,  a  new  carriage,  a  pair  of  horses  and  the  har- 
ness ;  and  the  other  for  twelve  acres  of  land.  Every 
body  entered  into  these  speculations  ;  noblemen,  mer- 
chants, mechanics,  seamen,  farmers,  turf-diggers, 
chimney-sweeps,  maidservants,  and  old-clothes  women. 
In  every  town,  the  tavern  was  a  sort  of  Exchange 
where  these  transactions  were  carried  on.  It  was  not 
necessary  in  the  height  of  the  mania  to  produce  the 
bulbs ;  but  bonds  were  given  for  imaginary  roots,  and 

count  of  the  "  South  Sea  Bubble,"  see  "  Lights  and  Shadows 
of  European  History." 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      287 

these  were  bought  and  sold  to  an  immense  amount. 
While  the  prices  continued  to  rise,  every  body  grew 
rich,  I\Iany  in  humble  circumstances  made  fortunes 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  We  are  told  that  not 
less  than  ten  millions  of  florins  were  expended  in  three 
years  during  this  excitement  in  Holland.  The  govern- 
ment at  last  interfered  to  check  these  speculations,  and 
the  bubble  burst  as  suddenly  as  it  had  been  called  into 
existence. 


WAR. 

Among  the  great  errors  of  man,  is  that  of  war,  — 
the  art  of  mutual  killing.  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill  "  is 
one  of  the  great  commandments ;  and  a  single  death, 
mflicted  by  a  malignant  hand,  bears  that  thrilling,  ap- 
palling name,  —  murder  !  This  is  a  crime  so  fearful 
that  it  is  said  no  human  bosom,  —  not  even  the  grave, — 
can  hide  it.  Yet  national  murder,  —  murder  by  au- 
thority, by  wholesale,  —  selfish,  malignant  killing  of 
thousands,  —  nay,  millions,  —  is  glorious,  heroic  war! 
How  familiar,  how  fascinating,  has  this  become  to  us. 
War  is  celebrated  in  the  stanzas  of  Homer,  and  by 
every  great  poet  since  his  time.  What  is  there  in  the 
pageantry  of  this  world  so  gorgeous,  so  imposing,  as  the 
martial  array  ;  what  so  inspiring  as  the  bugle  note,  or 
the  pealing  drum  and  fife  ?  Who  has  not  felt  his  en- 
thusiasm rise,  as  he  has  read  the  glowing  tale  of  battles, 
handed  down  by  the  historian  and  the  poet,  and  who 
has  not  felt  his  heart  beat  with  an  ardent  wish  to  min- 
gle in  the  glorious  fray  ! 


288     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Yet  this  is,  after  all,  but  murdei" ;  it  is  a  selfish  kill 
ing  of  our  fellow-men.  How  is  it,  then,  that  our  minds 
have  become  so  warped,  our  moral  vision  so  distorted, 
that  we  gloss  over  a  deadly  crime,  and  regard  it  with 
admiring  enthusiasm  ?  The  history  of  mankind  can 
alone  solve  the  mystery ;  kings  and  princes  have  set 
the  evil  example  ;  the  adulations  of  poets  and  histo- 
rians have  given  a  false  gloss  to  their  deeds,  and  the 
supple  mind  of  man  has  yielded  to  the  fearful  delusion. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  day  is  drawing  near  when  this 
great  error  shall  be  viewed  in  its  proper  light.  Prov- 
idence is  teaching  the  nations  by  examples,  that  unjust 
wars,  even  of  the  strong  against  the  weak,  are  ex- 
pensive enterprises.  It  cost  the  United  States  forty  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  and  thousands  of  valuable  lives,  to  con- 
quer one  thousand  Seminole  warriors.  It  has  cost  the 
French  sixty-five  thousand  lives,  and  seventy-five  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  to  obtain  a  barren  and  profitless  domin- 
ion over  Algeria  !  It  cost  Britain  millions  of  pounds 
sterling,  and  rivers  of  blood,  to  send  her  armies  to 
Afghanistan,  and  back  again !  How  much  good  the 
treasures  expended  upon  these  barbarous  and  needless 
wars  might  have  done,  if  expended  in  charity,  or  even 
in  the  common  business  of  life,  —  to  say  nothing  of  the 
lives  lost,  the  misery  endured,  the  crimes  committed, 
the  sins  perpetrated  before  God  and  man,  in  such  meas- 
ures of  grasping  ambition. 

Let  us  hope  that  a  better  feeling  and  a  wiser  policy 
is  beginning  to  take  possession  of  even  the  breasts  of 
statesmen  and  princes.  One  thing  is  certain :  the 
mass  of  the  people  are  by  degrees  learning  to  appre- 
ciate peace  ;  they  see  that  war  may  be  glorious  to  gen- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      289 

erals  and  leaders,  who  even  in  the  camp  are  surrounded 
with  luxuries,  and  run  little  risk  of  life,  while  it  implies 
every  species  of  privation,  degradation,  wounds,  and 
death,  to  the  poor  soldier.  We  are  informed  that  in 
England  the  friends  of  peace  have  recently  resorted 
to  a  novel  but  effectual  method  of  checking  the  wicked 
custom  of  war.  In  those  places  to  which  the  officers 
of  the  government  are  sent  to  obtain  recruits  for  the 
army,  the  opponents  of  human  butchery  post  at  the 
corners  of  the  streets  and  at  other  public  places  pla- 
cards like  the  following,  displayed  in  large  letters,  so 
as  to  attract  universal  attention. 

"  Wanted  several  thousand  able-bodied  men,  to 
shoot  or  to  be  shot  at ! !  or  perish  miserably  by  thirst 
and  starvation  on  the  plains  of  India.  —  Nofa  Bene  !  ! 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  says  that  no  one  who  en- 
tertains nice  scruples  about  I'eligion  has  any  business 
in  the  army.     None  such  need  apply." 

It  is  said  that  thousands,  tempted  by  poverty  and  dis- 
couragement, have  by  this  means  been  deterred  fi'om 
enlisting  in  the  army,  and  that  the  government's  offi- 
cials have  been  thereby  put  to  their  wits'  end  in  hunting 
up  recruits.  Heaven  speed  the  day  when  not  a  man 
can  be  found  willing  to  fight  the  bloody  and  disgraceful 
battles  by  which  the  governments  of  the  earth  are 
prone  to  scourge  their  unfortunate  subjects  ! 


INTOXICATING  DRINKS  AND  DRUGS. 

There  is  another  practice  of  mankind  even  more 
fetal  than  that  which  we  have  been  considering.    If 
19       XX.— 25 


290     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

war  has  slain  its  thousands,  intoxicating  drinks  and 
drugs  have  slain  their  ten  thousands.  This  strange 
practice  of  self-destruction  among  men  may  deserve 
particular  notice. 

We  know  that,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  it  has  been 
a  practice  of  mankind  to  seek  what  is  termed  a  genial 
excitement  of  the  nervous  system,  by  intoxicating  drugs 
and  liquors.  Wine  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  human 
inventions,  and  in  its  use  seems  to  have  kept  pace,  for 
ages,  with  the  progress  of  civilization.  Other  fermented 
liquors,  as  ciders,  the  palm-wine  of  Africa,  the  pulque 
of  Mexico,  ale,  porter,  and  beer,  in  vai'ious  forms,  have 
been  the  devices  for  producing  the  desired  and  cher- 
ished intoxication.  Distilled  liquors,  such  as  rum, 
brandy,  gin,  whisky,  &c.,  are  all  of  comparatively 
modern  origin ;  but  they  have  been,  and  still  are,  the 
potent  charm  by  which  the  incantation  is  to  be  per- 
formed. 

In  a  rude  state  of  society,  when  war  was  the  great 
game  of  the  master  spirits  of  mankind,  when  the  chief 
pleasures  and  occupations  of  life  were  of  a  coarse, 
physical,  and  voluptuous  nature,  the  excitement  pro- 
duced by  wine  was  not  calculated  to  shock  the  moral 
sense  of  the  world.  Even  if  men  became  drunk,  fu- 
rious, frenzied,  —  if  brawls  arose,  and  blood  flowed,  un- 
der the  excitement,  —  there  was  nothing  incompatible 
with  the  tastes  of  the  time.  Among  men  accustomed 
to  scenes  of  violence,  to  the  bloody  strife  and  ghastly 
spectacles  of  the  battle-field,  the  drunken  brawl  was 
rather  a  gay  excitement  than  a  revolting  and  brutal 
revel. 

We  can  see,  therefore,  what  would  otherwise  seem 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      291 

strange,  how  it  was  that  this  practice  of  intoxication 
wove  itself  like  a  web  of  steel  over  civilized  society. 
The  early  poets  looked  upon  the  excitement  produced 
by  wine  as  a  kind  of  inspiration,  and  therefore  they 
attributed  its  invention  to  their  gods.  The  Egyptians 
imputed  it  to  Bacchus,  and  the  Greeks  to  Saturn,  —  be- 
ings whom  they  worshipped  as  divinities. 

The  drinking  of  wine,  therefore,  was  sanctioned  by 
Heaven,  and  drunkenness  was  patronized  by  the  gods. 
A  sad  illustration  this  of  the  degradation  of  human 
nature,  when  left  to  itself,  without  the  elevating  in- 
fluence of  revelation.  Yet  it  is  only  in  keeping  with 
all  history,  which  always  shows  man,  when  inventing 
a  religion  for  himself,  as  first  imputing  his  own 
vices  to  the  deity,  and  then  practising  them  under  this 
divine  sanction. 

Thus,  in  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome,  the  gods  of  drunk- 
enness had  their  temples,  their  priests,  their  altars, 
and  their  sacrifices  ;  and  consequently  every  species 
of  debauch  was  practised  under  the  sanction  of  re- 
ligion. It  could  not  be  expected  that  the  morality 
of  society  would  rise  above  the  standard  of  the  priest- 
hood and  the  altar,  and  thus  the  practice  of  in- 
toxication extended  over  the  whole  mass.  At  the 
festive  board,  wine  was  introduced,  and  the  first  glass, 
the  solemn  libation,  was  poured  out  to  the  gods.  It 
could  not  be  expected  that  the  people  would  be  sober, 
when  the  deity  set  such  an  example.  The  wine  flowed 
freely.  The  poet  was  there,  and,  as  he  became  mel- 
lowed, he  sang  the  praises  of  Bacchus,  and  depicted  in 
glowing  colors  the  genial  influences  of  his  inspiration. 
The  musician  was  there,  and  he  gave  efficacy  to  the 


292     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

spell,  by  his  enchanting  melodies.  Beauty  was  there, 
and  lent  its  bewitching  charms  to  the  bewildering  yet 
joyous  madness. 

Such  was  the  scene  of  festivity  in  ancient  days,  and 
nothing  can  exceed  the  force  with  which  some  of  the 
old  poets  have  depicted  the  mad  delights  of  these 
bacchanalian  revels.  Some  of  the  finest  poetry  that 
antiquity  has  bequeathed  us  is  devoted  to  the  praise 
of  wine. 

By  degrees,  the  use  of  this  intoxicating  liquor  was 
introduced  into  the  house  and  the  home,  and  became 
blended  with  the  most  interesting  and  affecting  inci- 
dents of  life.  It  was  used  at  the  wedding  and  the 
funeral ;  at  the  birth  and  the  baptism ;  at  the  common 
meal  and  the  festive  board  ;  at  court  and  at  camp ;  at 
celebrations  and  triumphs.  On  all  occasions,  when 
the  heart  was  softened,  elevated,  expanded,  —  there 
also  was  the  intoxicating  element,  to  cast  its  spell,  and 
weave  its  web,  over  the  body  and  the  soul.  Wherever 
tne  sons  of  men  gathered  together,  there  Satan,  in  this 
guise,  came  among  them. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  be- 
came nearly  universal.  Mahomet,  indeed,  seeing  its 
evil  consequences,  forbade  the  use  of  wine  to  his  fol- 
lowers, and  thus,  for  centuries,  temperance  was  one 
of  the  leading  traits  of  his  disciples.  In  modern  times, 
the  Mussulman  practice  has  relaxed,  and  wine,  brandy, 
and  arrack  are  extensively  used  in  the  East ;  when  , 
these  are  not  taken,  opium  is  employed  to  satisfy  the 
craving  of  a  sensual  and  voluptuous  people  for  animal 
excitement. 

In   Christian  countries,   the   progress  of  the  intoxi- 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.      293 

eating  spell  received  no  such  religious  check.  The 
Europeans  cultivated  Greek  and  Roman  literature, 
and  adopted  Greek  and  Roman  customs.  While  they 
rejected  statues  and  temples,  they  still  maintained  the 
worship  of  certain  heathen  deities.  Though  Bacchus 
had  no  formal  priesthood,  he  had  an  altar  in  every 
house,  and  at  every  fireside.  With  the  progress  of 
the  arts,  a  new  discovery  was  made,  —  that  of  alcohol ; 
and  though  this  for  a  time  was  confined  to  the  apothe- 
cary's shop,  it  at  last  emerged  from  its  obscurity, 
and  became  the  leader  in  the  mighty  movement  of 
ruin  and  degradation. 

From  this  period,  intemperance  rapidly  spread  over 
Christendom,  extending  its  sway,  multiplying  its  dev- 
otees, and  marking  its  course  by  deeper  traces  of  de- 
vastation, desolation,  and  death.  It  is  remarkable,  that, 
when  the  dawn  of  civilization  was  about  to  arise  upon 
the  world,  after  that  long,  gloomy  night,  called  the 
Dark  Ages,  —  when  all  the  political  and  moral  ele- 
ments were  at  work  to  produce  a  bright  sunrise  upon 
mankind,  —  that  even  then  a  large  mass  of  Christendom 
should  have  continued  the  besotted  worshippers  of 
this  moral  Moloch,  intoxicating  drink. 

Time  went  on  ;  revolution  followed  revolution  ;  the 
great  Reformation  was  achieved,  and  the  mental  fetters 
of  Popedom  were  broken  ;  the  mind  of  Christian  man 
walked  forth,  for  the  first  time,  at  liberty  to  worship 
God  according  to  its  choice ;  the  despotisms  of  Eu- 
rope were  gradually  softened ;  the  American  Revolu- 
tion broke  upon  the  world,  and  disclosed  some  wonder- 
ful political  truths  ;  the  French  Revolution  came,  and, 
amid  the  darkness  and  the  tempest,  there  were  deep, 
broad,  abiding  flashes  of  lio;ht. 
25"* 


294      GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Still  time  and  change  went  on  ;  the  arts  flourished ; 
science  was  advanced ;  the  missionary  cause  arose, 
and  carried  the  gospel  to  far  heathen  lands  and  the 
remote  islands  of  the  sea.  A  thousand  new  and 
beautiful  charities  sprang  up ;  men  associated  them- 
selves together  to  scatter  abroad  the  Bible,  to  dis- 
seminate useful  truths,  to  cultivate  doctrines  of  peace, 
to  break  the  fetters  of  the  slave.  Every  great  moral 
reform  had  a  champion  save  one,  —  the  temperance 
reform. 

It  is  amazing  that  this  should  have  been  the  very 
last  of  the  great  moral  movements  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  mankind,  —  this  which  should  have  been  among 
the  first.  The  reason  we  can  easily  understand. 
When,  some  thirty  years  ago,  temperance  societies 
were  first  suggested,  they  were  generally  ridiculed  as 
chimerical  and  Quixotic.  Even  the  reverend  clergy, 
forward  as  they  generally  are  in  every  good  word  and 
work,  were  here  staggered.  When  they  looked  the 
formidable  monster  in  the  face  which  it  was  neces- 
sary to  assail,  they  shrunk  back  with  fear  and  dis- 
may. 

It  was  indeed  a  stupendous  task  that  was  proposed, — 
to  attack  one  of  the  most  cherished  customs  of  society  ; 
to  drive  out  of  use  one  of  the  chief  articles  of  com- 
merce ;  to  change  the  fashion  of  the  civilized  world. 
Yet  a  kw  men,  who  looked  beyond  their  day  and 
generation,  undertook  the  fearful  work.  Amid  ridicule, 
abuse,  persecution,  slander,  and  bitter  spite,  they  pur- 
sued their  way,  until  at  last  the  light  began  to  burst 
through  the  darkness,  and  the  astonished  world  to  gaze 
upon  the  startling  and  fearful  revelation. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.       295 

The  real  character  of  the  cause  of  intemperance 
has  not  been  till  lately  understood  ;  and  we  may  pre- 
sent it  as  one  of  the  benefits  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment, in  its  various  forms,  that  the  truth  on  this  sub- 
ject has  been  made  manifest.  We  should  never  have 
known,  but  for  this,  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages 
is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  human  woe  and  human 
degradation.  It  was  left  for  the  despised,  traduced, 
scofTed-at  temperance  societies  to  lift  the  veil  from 
the  minds  of  mankind,  and  open  the  prison-door  of 
human  prejudice.  It  is  to  them  we  are  indebted  for 
the  disclosure  of  the  fact,  that  alcohol,  in  its  multi- 
tudinous forms,  is  the  chief  cause  of  poverty  ;  the  chief 
cause  of  crime ;  the  chief  means  by  which  the  mad- 
house is  filled  ;  by  which  the  prison  is  tenanted ;  by 
which  the  gallows  is  fed ;  by  which  ignorance  is  per- 
petuated ;  by  which  Christianity  is  retarded  ;  by  which 
civilization  is  kept  back.  These  things  have  been 
made  manifest,  and  set  in  order  before  the  world,  by  the 
temperance  cause.  The  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  those  who  are  sick.  The  first  step  toward  reform 
is  a  conviction  of  the  nature  and  ^  extent  of  the  abuse 
to  be  remedied.  The  Bedlamite,  who  was  asked  why 
he  was  confined,  replied,  "  I  thought  all  the  world 
mad,  and  they  all  thought  me  mad.  I  was  right, 
but  the  world  outvoted  me."  Mere  power  in  moral 
movement  is  vain  ;  the  patient  must  be  convinced  that 
he  is  sick,  before  he  will  call  the  physician,  or  take 
the  remedy  prescribed.  You  cannot  treat  the  moral 
agent  as  a  madman  ;  or  if  you  do,  while  incarcer- 
ated he  will  cling  to  his  insanity.  He  will  hold  him- 
self to  be  right,  and  all  the  world  wrong. 


296  GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    THE    EARTH. 

Hence  the  importance  of  these  statistics  —  these 
stubborn  facts  —  established  and  circulated  by  the  tem- 
perance cause.  Here  is  the  great  lever  and  fulcrum 
of  this  reform,  and  it  is  already  beginning  to  shake 
the  whole  civilized  world  by  these  means.  But  this  is 
not  all  it  has  done.  The  practical  fruits  are  visible  to 
every  eye,  and  we  are  surrounded  by  speaking  witnesses 
to  the  beneficent  nature  of  the  temperance  movement. 

If  we  extend  our  view,  we  shall  observe  that  what 
has  been  done  by  the  temperance  cause  here  has 
been  done  elsewhere.  On  all  hands,  the  results  are 
the  same.  If  the  miracles  of  ancient  days  are  not  wit- 
nessed, if  the  blind  do  not  see,  the  dumb  speak, 
the  lame  rise  up  and  walk,  those  who  were  lost 
are  found,  those  who  were  condemned  are  re- 
deemed. In  all  modern  time,  a  more  beautiful,  a  more 
miraculous  discovery  has  not  been  made,  than  that 
which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  \yashingtonian 
movement.  A  few  humble  men  —  as  if  inspired  by 
Him  who  was  born  in  a  manger,  as  if  touched  with 
his  deep  and  affecting  declaration,  that  "  there  is  more 
joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  rcpenteth  than  over 
the  ninety-and-nine  who  never  went  astray  "  —  deter- 
mined to  set  about  the  reformation  of  the  degraded,  the 
depraved,  the  lost.  How  hopeless  a  task  did  this  at 
first  seem ;  to  redeem  the  drunkard  ;  to  conquer  his 
vicious  propensities ;  to  remove  the  stani  upon  his  rep- 
utation ;  to  wipe  out  his  consciousness  of  degradation  ; 
to  renew  his  jaded  faculties  ;  to  restore  him  to  society ! 
This  might  seem  a  miracle  indeed ;  yet  it  was  under- 
taken, —  it  was  attempted,  —  it  has  succeeded.  Thou- 
sands —  millions  we  may  say  —  of  living  witnesses,  in 
this  and  other  lands,  can  bear  testimony  to  the  fact. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EAETH      297 

How  often,  as  well  in  the  page  of  romance  as  that 
of  history,  have  we  been  touched  with  the  story  of  the 
long  incarcerated  prisoner,  at  last  released,  and  re- 
stored to  friendship  and  love  ;  of  the  war-worn  soldier, 
weary,  wasted,  mutilated,  but  at  last  returned  to  his 
home  and  his  family  ;  of  the  sailor,  his  voyaj^e  over, 
his  dangers  past,  reposing  at  the  fireside  of  his  youth. 
How  often  have  we  wept  with  joy  at  even  the  fictitious 
tale  of  troubles  past,  of  difficulties  surmounted,  of  sor- 
rows happily  ended.  But  what  tale  of  romance  can 
equal  the  thrilling  realities  which  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance has  produced  ? 

A  few  years  since,  the  drunkard  was  regarded  as 
lost.  This  was  even  the  doctrine  of  the  temperance 
societies.  The  hope  of  redemption  for  such  was  not 
then  born.  It  had  not  then  been  dreamed  that  there 
was  balm,  even  in  Gilead,  for  him.  But  a  new  star  has 
arisen  in  the  east ;  Christianity  has  had  a  new  devel- 
opment ;  a  new  and  glorious  truth  has  burst  upon  the 
world.  There  is  hope  for  the  lost ;  there  is  balm  in 
Gilead  ;  there  is  redemption  for  the  inebriate.  Though 
fallen,  he  is  still  a  man;  though  he  has  wandered, 
he  may  return  to  his  house  and  his  home.  Though  a 
husband,  he  may  once  more  be  united  in  the  love  and 
esteem  of  his  wife  ;  though  a  father,  he  may  again  em- 
brace, in  hope  and  confidence,  his  children ;  though 
a  child,  he  may  be  restored,  and  bless  the  parental 
bosom  he  has  torn  with  agony  ! 

It  would  be  easy  to  draw  pictures  even  more  touching 
than  these;  —  yet  not  pictures,  but  portraits,  —  paint- 
ings of  realities,  histories  full  of  truth  and  meaning. 
How  often  have  we  read  with  delight  the  story  of 
some  good  action,  —  of  a  life  saved,  of  sorrow  appeased, 


298     GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH. 

of  evil  mitigated.  The  beautiful  passages  of  history, 
as  well  as  romance,  are  made  up  of  elements  like 
these ;  and  yet,  where  is  there  a  record  that  displays 
so  much  of  practical  charity,  so  much  of  productive 
benevolence,  so  much  of  efficient,  fruitful  Christianity, 
as  that  of  the  Washingtonian  Society,  in  the  compass 
of  a  few  brief  years.  The  tale  of  the  Good  Samaritan 
has  lived  for  almost  twenty  centuries,  and  has  been  an 
example  to  all  subsequent  ages.  Yet  the  cause  of 
which  we  speak  has  not  merely  bound  up  the  wounds 
of  the  flesh  of  one  man  ;  it  has  restored  peace  to  the 
spirit,  —  it  has  healed  the  broken  heart,  the  crushed 
bosom,  the  agonized  soul  of  thousands. 

We  have  not  space  to  present  in  detail  the  econom- 
ical advantages  realized  and  proposed  by  the  temper- 
ance cause.  We  all  know,  that,  while  ardent  spirits 
are  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  human  evil,  they  are, 
at  the  same  time,  the  most  expensive  of  all  luxuries. 
The  simple  truth  is,  that  mankind  waste  more  money 
upon  this  folly,  —  this  self-destroying  practice  of  rum- 
drinking,  —  than  would  be  required  to  remedy  all  the 
poverty,  sustain  all  the  hospitals,  keep  up  all  the  reli- 
gious missions,  and  give  education  to  every  child 
throughout  Christendom.  Is  it  not  evident  that  Christian 
statesmen  ought  not  by  any  means  to  overlook  this 
subject,  viewed  as  a  mere  question  of  political  econ- 
omy ?  We  observe  throughout  society  a  deep  and 
anxious  conviction  that  something  is  yet  to  be  done 
to  remedy  the  inequality  of  condition  which  we  see  in 
the  world,  and  especially  in  foreign  countries.  There, 
society  is  divided  into  the  pampered  rich  and  the  suf- 
fering poor.  Whence  come  these  things  ?  Why  is  the 
world  thus  out  of  joint  ?    These  queries  have  disturbed 


GEOGRAPHICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  EARTH.     299 

many  thinking  heads,  and  a  remedy  for  the  evil  has 
been  sought  in  projects  for  a  new  organization  of  soci- 
ety.    Many   such   have    been   proposed.     They  will, 
doubtless,  fail  of  their  object,  —  and  all  would  be  ren- 
dered  useless    and    needless,    if    every   working-man 
throughout  the  world  would  sign  the  pledge  and  abide 
by  it.     The  evils  alluded  to  find  their  chief  source  in 
the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.    The  cost  of  these  drains 
the  pockets  of  the  working  classes  ;  the  liquor  muddles 
their  brains,  and  makes  them  fit  to  be  the  dupes  of 
despots  ;   it  weakens  their  bodies,  breaks  their  ambition, 
bends  the  neck  of  independence,  and  makes  the  stern 
yoke  of  authority  sit  easy  to  the  servile  neck.     The 
working  classes  are  the  masters  of  the  world,  if  they 
choose  to  be  so.    Liquor  is  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  as- 
sertion of  their  rights  and    the   maintenance  of  their 
power  ;  liquor  is  the  despot  that  degrades  and  enslaves 
them.     Till  this  is  dethroned,  they  cannot  reach  their 
true  position,  for  a  few  clear  heads  may  master  a  mil- 
lion of  muddled  tipplers.     As  a  mere  question  of  wise 
human  policy,  we  believe,  therefore,  that  the  temper- 
ance cause  claims  the  attention   and  support   of  the 
statesman,  the  friend  of  man,  the  lover  of  human  rights 
and  human  liberty.     Instead  of  being  deemed  the  mere 
chimera  of  a  few  heated  fanatics,  —  a  thing  to  blaze 
and  burn  and  go  out,  —  it  should  rather  be  regarded  as 
tne  beginning  of  a  great  revolution,  which  reaches  to 
the  foundation  of  society  ;  the    lever  of  Archimedes, 
which  is  to  move  the  moral  world.     Without  at  least 
such  a    reform  as  this    proposes,  all  others  are  vain, 
and,  with  it,  others  would  come  of  course,  or  at  least 
more  speedily  and  more  effectually. 


PAST  AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  WORLD.* 


The  history  of  man  begins  at  a  point  almost  six 
thousand  years  ago.  The  great  events  since  that  pe- 
riod—  those  which  have  exercised  a  decisive  influence 
on  the  fate  of  mankind  —  are  comprised  in  the  follow- 
ing brief  chronological  table. 

The  Creation, B.  C.  4004 

Tlie  Deluge,  ..... 

Confusion  of  Tongues, 

Abraham  goes  to  Canaan,     . 

Settlement  of  Greece, 

Departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt, 

Temple  of  Solomon  built, 

Building  of  Rome,         .... 

Assyrian  Empire  overthrown, 

Alexander  invades  Persia,     . 

Greece  conquered  by  the  Romans,  . 

Carthage  destroyed,       .... 

England  invaded  by  Cassar, 

Christ  born,  ..... 


2348 

2247 

1995 

1836 

1491 

1004 

752 

538 

330 

146 

146 

55 

0 


*  For  a  view  of  the  present  state  of  society  throughout  the 
world,  in  respect  to  religion,  dress,  education,  «fcc.,  see  "  Man- 
ners and  Customs  of  the  principal  Nations  of  the  Globe  ";  and 
for  a  view  of  the  industrial  pursuits  of  mankind,  see  "  Enter- 
prise, Industry,  and  Art  of  Man."  The  reader,  who  wishes  to 
trace  the  history  of  mankind,  is  referred  to  the  several  volumes 
in  the  Cabinet  Library,  entitled  "  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Asiat- 
ic History,"  "  European  History,"  &c 


PAST    AND   PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       301 

Christ  crucified,  A.  D.    33 

Jerusalem  destroyed, .  70 

Hygenus,  first  Bisliop  of  Rome,  made  Pope,        .         .  134 

Christianity  adopted  at  Rome,         .....  311 

Rome  divided  into  tlie  Eastern  and  Western  Empires,  395 

Rome  taken  by  Odoacer,                  476 

The  Pope's  temporal  Power  established,      .        .         .  607 

Mahomet's  Flight  —  the  Hegira, 622 

Saracen  Empire  established,          .....  638 

Charlemagne  begins  his  Reign, 772 

Egbert  first  King  of  England, 827 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  becomes  King  of  England,  1066 

The  first  Crusade,             1096 

Turks  conquer  Constantinople,     .....  1453 

America  discovered  by  Columbus,   ...                 .  1492 

Reformation  of  Luther,        .         .                 .                 .  1517 

Partition  of  Poland, 1772 

American  Revolution,           ......  1775 

Bastile  destroyed,  and  beginning  of  French  Revolution,  1789 

Bonaparte  made  Emperor,         .....         .  1804 

Battle  of  Waterloo, 1815 

Revolution  in  Paris  and  Louis  Philippe  King,           .         .  1830 

Chinese  open  several  Ports  after  a  War  with  the  British,  1S42 

Such  is  the  thread  of  chronology,*  which  runs 
through  the  tissue  of  the  world's  history.  We  have 
not  space  to  dilate  upon  this  topic,  and  can  only  give  a 
rapid  sketch  of  the  progress  of  society  during  the  pres- 
ent century. 

*  In  this  table,  we  have  followed  the  commonly  received 
chronology ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  defective, 
and  that  a  considerably  longer  period  than  that  assigned  actu- 
ally elapsed  between  the  deluge  and  the  confusion  of  tongues, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  different  portions  of  the  old  world. 
Some  chronologists  place  the  creation  of  man  nearly  two  thou- 
sands years  earlier  than  the  time  usually  adopted,  and  it  is 
quite  probable  that  this  is  more  nearly  correct  than  our  reck- 
oning. 

XX.— 26 


302       PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

Whoever  has  watched  the  progress  of  recent  events 
throughout  the  world  has  remarked,  that,  amid  change, 
fluctuation,  vicissitude,  there  is  still  a  general  tenden- 
cy to  improvement.  Though  the  surface  of  the  world's 
affairs  may  seem  to  present  an  aspect  like  that  of  the 
ocean,  broken  into  a  chaos  of  waves,  there  is  still  visi- 
ble, in  the  midst  of  it  all,  and  bearing  all  forward  in  its 
current,  the  resistless  march  of  improvement. 

If  we  take  a  hasty  retrospect  of  history,  within  the 
space  of  our  own  observation,  —  within  the  compass 
of  the  last  five  and  forty  years,  —  we  shall  see  abundant 
evidence  of  this.  Let  us  fix  our  view,  for  a  moment, 
upon  Europe.  The  first  object  that  arrests  our  atten- 
tion is  France.  At  the  opening  of  the  present  century, 
we  behold  her  rising  from  her  long  intoxication,  and 
still  reeling  with  the  banquet  of  blood,  but  gradually 
acquiring  stability  under  a  consular  government.  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte  being  at  its  head.  We  soon  see  this 
remarkable  man  becoming  the  pivot  upon  which  the 
affairs  of  Europe  turn.  In  1802,  he  became  consul  for 
life  ;  in  1804,  emperor.  In  1808,  he  deprived  the 
Pope,  who  crowned  him,  of  his  territories  ;  in  1809,  he 
divorced  his  wife,  and  in  1810  allied  himself  to  the 
haughty  House  of  Hapsburg.  Between  the  com- 
mencement of  his  career  and  its  close,  he  created 
three  kingdoms,  —  Bavaria,  Saxony,  and  Wurtemburg. 
He  made  his  brother  Joseph,  king  of  Spain ;  Louis, 
king  of  Holland  ;  Jerome,  king  of  Westphalia ;  his 
brother-in-law,  Murat,  king  of  Naples  ;  his  son-in-law, 
Eugene,  viceroy  of  Italy.  And  what  do  these  events 
imply  .''  The  conflict  of  armies ;  the  overthrow  of  em- 
pires ;  the  dethronement  of  kings  ;  the  termination  of 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.        303 

dynasties.  All  Europe  was  shaken  as  by  an  earth- 
quake ;  and  in  the  concussion,  political  institutions  and 
social  edifices,  which  had  been  cemented  by  centuries, 
and  had  long  defied  the  shock  of  ages,  were  shaken 
down  and  crumbled  into  dust ! 

For  a  time,  the  course  of  the  conqueror  is  only  on- 
ward. He  arrests  the  gaze  of  the  world,  and  the  na- 
tions look  with  mingled  admiration  and  fear  upon  his 
progress.  But  a  sudden  change  comes  over  his  fortunes. 
The  waves  recoil,  and  he  is  overwhelmed.  He  is  the 
victim  of  the  returning  tide,  which  his  own  impetus  has 
heaped  up.  Like  Sisiphus,  he  rolls  the  rock  up  the 
acclivity,  but,  near  the  summit  of  his  wishes,  his  strength 
fails,  and  he  is  crushed  beneath  the  recoiling  fragment. 
A  fugitive  he  returns  from  Russia,  where,  two  brief 
months  before,  he  thundered  at  the  palace-gate  of  the 
Czars,  with  three  hundred  thousand  men.  He  gathers 
new  armies,  and  meets  the  enemy  at  Leipsic  ;  but  his 
struggles  are  vain.  He  retreats  toward  his  capital, 
sustaining  defeat  after  defeat,  —  until  at  last  he  is  com- 
pelled to  resign  his  crown,  and  deliver  himself  up  as  a 
prisoner.  Paris  —  the  proud  capital — is  turned  into 
a  camp.  Russian  Cossacks  bivouac  in  the  Champs 
Elysees  ;  the  Garden  of  Plants  is  occupied  by  the  troops 
of  the  Prussian  Blucher,  and  English  soldiers  mount 
guard  at  the  palace  of  the  Tuilleries  !  Bonaparte  is 
banished  to  Elba ;  his  family  is  degraded  ;  and  the  de- 
nounced and  exiled  Bourbon  is  restored  to  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors. 

Nor  does  the  wondrous  drama  end  here.  In  a  few 
months,  Bonaparte  escapes  ;  he  returns  to  Paris  ;  again 
he  is  at  the  head  of  armies  ;  again  his  fortunes  are  in 


304       PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

the  ascendant.  He  reigns  for  a  hundred  days,  and 
then,  after  a  series  of  defeats,  is  finally  overpowered  at 
Waterloo,  and,  surrendering  himself  into  the  hands  of 
the  English,  is  sent  to  St.  Helena,  where  he  dies. 

And  what  is  the  subsequent  history  of  the  throne 
which  this  man  possessed  ?  Louis  the  Eighteenth  dies 
at  a  good  old  age,  and  is  succeeded  by  Charles  the 
Tenth.  A  new  revolution  breaks  out ;  Charles  the 
Tenth  abdicates  ;  and  the  throne  is  occupied  by  his 
relation.  And  now  behold  a  king's  son  —  a  Bourbon  — 
traverses  the  ocean  to  that  lone  isle,  where  rest  the 
ashes  of  the  mighty  dead.  With  pious  reverence  he 
approaches  the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  and  causes  his  re- 
mains to  be  disinterred.  They  are  borne  back  to 
France  ;  they  are  there  received  w-ith  military-  honors  ; 
tears  are  shed  over  the  senseless  ashes,  like  rain;  in 
all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  human  glory,  they 
are  deposited  in  the  capital  from  which,  four-and- 
twenty  years  before,  their  possessor  had  been  driven 
by  the  embattled  hosts  of  Europe.  And  this  is  all  a 
story  of  the  present  century,  —  the  story  of  one  man 
and  of  a  single  empire.  What  a  spectacle  of  vicissi- 
tude does  the  record  of  nations  present !  If  the  cur- 
tain be  dropped  for  a  few  brief  years,  when  again  it  is 
rolled  up,  how  changed  is  the  scene  !  A  slight  turn 
of  the  kaleidoscope,  and  behold  a  new  aiTangement  of 
human  affairs,  —  a  new  distribution  of  crowns  and 
thrones  and  kingdoms. 

The  history  of  other  nations  of  Europe  presents  a 
similar  aspect  of  agitation  and  mutation.  Within  the 
present  century,  the  king  of  Portugal  has  been  com- 
pelled, in  order  to  save  his  life,  to  transfer  his  throne 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WOPvLD.       305 

from  one  hemisphere  to  another.  We  have  seen  him 
restored  to  his  native  country ;  and  after  his  death,  we 
have  beheld  his  descendants  wrangling  for  the  crown, 
like  beasts  of  prey,  and  making  the  blood  of  the  people 
flow  like  w^ater  in  the  inglorious  strife. 

In  Spain,  we  have  witnessed  still  more  remarkable 
events.  We  have  seen  a  father  sell  the  throne  of  his 
son,  for  a  stipulated  sum  of  money.  We  have  seen 
that  throne  bestowed  upon  a  stranger.  We  have  seen 
every  hill  in  the  kingdom  become  a  fortress,  and  every 
valley  an  encampment.  We  have  witnessed  the  con- 
flict of  armies  led  on  by  Massena,  Soult,  Ney,  Victor, 
and  Marmont,  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  Beresford 
and  Wellington  on  the  other.  We  have  witnessed  the 
fights  of  Talavera,  Buzaco,  Salamanca,  Badajos,  and 
Vittoria. 

In  1814,  we  have  seen  the  cheated  and  imbecile 
Ferdinand  restored ;  and  we  have  seen  his  daughter, 
by  a  fourth  marriage,  in  her  very  infancy,  seated  on 
the  throne.  We  have  seen  her  uncle,  Don  Carlos, 
striving  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  the  infant's  grasp, 
but,  after  years  of  baflled  effort,  we  have  seen  him 
give  over  the  ineffectual  struggle,  still  leaving-  the 
heaving  and  swelling  elements  to  agitate  the  land. 

Turning  our  attention  to  other  countries,  we  see  that 
within  the  period  of  our  survey  Holland  and  Belgium 
have  been  separated ;  Greece  has  passed  from  vassal- 
age to  the  Turk  to  a  state  of  independence ;  Prussia 
has  risen  from  relative  insignificance  to  a  proud  ascen- 
dency in  the  scale  of  nations ;  and  Russia  is  arresting 
the  attention  of  the  world  by  her  gigantic  strides  in  civ- 
ilization, dominion,  and  power. 
20        26* 


306   PAST  AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  "WORLD. 

In  the  great  events  of  the  last  forty  years,  England 
nas  largely  participated.  From  1800  to  1815,  it  is  es- 
timated that  there  were  more  general  actions  fought, 
and  more  lives  lost,  than  during  any  former  period  of 
ten  times  the  extent.  The  whole  number  of  engage- 
ments—  including  those  of  Marengo,  Austerlitz,  Co- 
runna.  Aspen,  Esling,  Wagram,  Barossa,  Elbarossa, 
Borodino,  Lutzen,  Leipsic,  Ligny,  and  Waterloo — ex- 
ceed two  hundred  pitched  batdes,  beside  many  others 
of  lesser  note  !  In  all  these,  English  troops,  money, 
or  policy  participated.  In  every  battle-field,  at  every 
court,  in  every  diplomatic  congress,  the  omnipresent 
genius  of  Britain  seemed  to  take  a  decisive  part.  Nor 
have  her  movements  been  confined  to  Europe.  With- 
in the  present  century  she  has  acquired,  either  by 
arms  or  diplomacy,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Ceylon, 
Cura^oa,  Demarara,  St.  Eustatius,  Mauritius,  Madei- 
ra, Malta,  Martinique,  Senegal,  and  Surinam.  In 
India  her  empire  is  doubled  ;  the  whole  Australian 
continent  and  its  adjacent  isles  are  hers  ;  the  world  is 
dotted  with  her  fortifications  ;  she  reigns  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions  of  people, —  one  fifth  part  of  the 
human  family  ;  and,  recently,  her  armies  have  been 
knocking  at  the  door  of  the  most  populous  empire  on 
the  earth,  and  calling  on  a  nation  that  has  dozed  in  se- 
curity and  seclusion  for  ages  to  awake,  arise,  and 
take  part  in  the  great  movements  of  mankind. 

If  we  turn  from  this  hasty  survey  of  Europe  to  our 
Western  continent,  we  shall  remark  the  same  general 
character  of  mutation  in  the  course  of  history.  Forty 
years  ago,  the  United  States  were  the  only  republic, 
the  only  independent  nation,  in  this  hemisphere.   At  the 


PAST  AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  ^^  ORLD.   307 

commencement  of  the  nineteenth  century,  this  entire 
continent,  save  only  our  country,  was  in  a  state  of  colo- 
nial vassalage.  And  what  is  the  spectacle  now .''  Thir- 
teen independent  republics  are  enrolled  in  the  list  of 
nations,  and  inscribed  on  the  map  of  America.  Spain, 
which  first  discovered  this  Western  world,  and  for 
centuries  held  one  half  of  it  in  her  iron  grasp,  has  un- 
clenched her  hold,  and  millions  of  people  have  learned 
to  breathe  the  unwonted  atmosphere  of  freedom  and 
sovereignty. 

And  if  such  be  the  aspect  presented  by  nations,  for 
the  last  forty  years,  we  shall  note  the  same  character- 
istics if  we  turn  our  attention  to  individuals.  When  the 
morning  of  the  nineteenth  century  dawned  upon  the 
world,  who  were  the  master  spirits  that  the  sun  in  his 
course  found  in  possession  of  power,  or  reaching  for- 
ward toward  might,  majesty,  and  dominion  ?  Pitt,  Fox, 
Nelson,  Cowper,  Gifford,  Grattan,  Curran,  Cuvier,  La- 
place, Kemble,  Siddons,  Scott,  Byron,  Napoleon,  Alex- 
ander, in  one  hemisphere  ;  Adams,  Jefferson,  Mad- 
ison, Monroe,  Harrison,  Bolivar,  in  another.  And 
where  are  they  ?  They  are  gone,  —  faded  from  the 
scenes  which  they  once  exalted,  or  perchance  adorned. 
The  voice  of  the  orator  is  hushed ;  the  plume  of  the 
chieftain  is  nodding  over  his  tomb ;  the  lyre  of  the 
minstrel  is  dumb.  And  yet  the  world  rolls  on.  If  one 
charioteer  is  struck  from  his  seat,  another  hand  is  ready 
to  grasp  the  reins.  There  is  change,  but  no  pause. 
The  wheels  still  move  forward.  If  Bonaparte  is  swept 
from  the  deck,  Louis  Philippe  seizes  the  helm,  and 
guides  the  vessel  of  state ;  if  Alexander  dies,  Nicholas 
succeeds,  and  leads  on  the  march  of  civilization. 


308      PAST    AND    PRESENT   STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

Such  is  the  spectacle  presented  by  a  general  view 
of  the  world,  within  our  own  times,  —  a  space  of  forty 
five  years,  —  and  one  which  the  imagination  may  easily 
measure.  But  this  is  the  mere  outside  of  affairs.  A 
king  is  not  a  kingdom  ;  nor  is  the  story  of  a  ruler  al- 
ways the  history  of  his  people.  If  we  look  beyond  the 
characters  which  figure  in  the  foreground  of  the  pag- 
eant of  history,  we  shall  observe,  so  long  as  we  fix  our 
attention  upon  individuals,  that  all  is  succession,  —  mu- 
tation. One  set  of  actors  appear  upon  the  theatre,  play 
out  their  parts,  disappear,  and  give  place  to  others. 
But  this  is  not  all :  it  is  not  a  mere  change  of  scenes 
and  actors,  but  each  successive  act  in  the  great  drama 
of  human  society  shows  an  advancement,  an  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  mankind. 

Look  at  what  has  been  done  for  science  within  the 
last  forty  years.  Geology  has  almost  entirely  grown 
up  within  the  present  century.  All  former  ages  had 
dozed  in  ignorance  and  indifference  over  its  mighty 
revelations.  The  bones  of  the  mastodon  and  the 
ichthiosaurus  had  been  occasionally  discovered,  and 
some  dreaming  philosophers  had  w^ondered  whence 
they  came  ;  but  the  knowledge  of  whole  races  of  ani- 
mals and  vegetables,  that  had  lived,  flourished,  and 
perished  on  this  earth  before  the  creation  of  man,  and 
the  existence  of  the  present  order  of  things,  —  of  ages 
that  have  rolled  over  the  world,  before  any  being  was 
here  to  record  its  history,  —  of  revolutions  which  have 
"ent  the  granite  ribs  of  the  earth,  like  shreds,  and  fires 
that  have  fused  mountains  as  in  the  crucible  of  a  chem- 
ist; —  all  these  facts,  now  indisputably  established,  are 
the  discoveries— -the  revelations  —  of  our  ov/n  day. 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE  OF   THE    WORLD.       309 

In  mineralogy,  chemistry,  natural  history,  and  nat- 
ural philosophy,  there  has  been  an  almost  entire  revo- 
lution. Old  theories  liave  become  exploded,  old  er- 
rors abandoned,  and  philosophy  founded  on  facts  has 
become  established.  And  two  things  are  here  specially 
to  be  remarked.  Philosophy,  before  a  sealed  book  to 
all  but  the  learned,  is  now  as  familiar  as  household 
goods.  Philosophy  is  no  longer  hidden  within  a  sanc- 
tuary, to  which  a  privileged  class  only  are  admitted, 
but  the  doors  are  thrown  wide  to  the  world,  and  who- 
soever will,  may  enter  in  and  partake  of  its  privileges. 
Science  is  not  only  familiar,  but  it  is  rendered  practi- 
cal and  useful  by  application  to  the  arts  of  life.  Chem- 
istry is  no  longer  the  mystery  of  the  alchemist,  nor  the 
black  art  of  the  juggler.  It  is  no  longer  the  perquisite 
of  the  scholar,  nor  the  plaything  of  universities.  It 
is  in  our  schools  and  academies,  —  it  is  in  our  work- 
shops,—  in  the  hands  of  mechanics  and  farmers, — 
practical  men,  who  are  every  day  turning  it  to  practical 
account.  Mankind  had  before  enslaved  the  horse  and 
the  ox,  and  taught  them  to  toil  in  his  service  ;  they  had 
before  taught  the  rivers  to  turn  the  wheel  of  the  mill, 
the  waters  to  bear  their  ships,  and  the  winds  to  speed 
them  on  their  way ;  but  it  is  within  the  present  centu- 
ry that  Philosophy  has  been  chained  to  the  car  of  hu- 
man art,  and  been  made  to  work  for  the  comfort 
and  pleasure  of  man.  Philosophy  —  forty  years  ago 
a  proud,  privileged  thing,  the  tool  and  instrument  of 
the  few — is  now  the  slave  of  the  many;  before  the 
toy  of  the  scholar,  it  is  now  the  servant  of  the  peo- 
ple. No  longer  hidden  in  colleges,  it  is  at  work  in 
the    field,  on   the    highway,  upon   the    railroad-track. 


310       PAST   AND  PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WOKLD. 

on  the  great  deep,  in  the  mine,  in  the  factory,  in 
the  kitchen.  No  longer  is  Philosophy  a  thing  that 
lives  aloof  from  the  world,  with  gloved  hand  and  slip- 
pered foot,  too  dainty  to  soil  itself  with  the  head- 
work  and  hand-work  of  life  ;  —  it  is  now  a  hard-fisted 
fellow,  with  sleeves  rolled  up,  and  sweaty  brow,  tugging 
and  toiling  to  bless  and  benefit  mankind. 

Go  to  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  and  you  will  find 
that  Philosophy,  Science,  by  application  to  art,  lights 
them  up  with  gas,  and  for  every  inhabitant  —  the  poor 
as  well  as  the  rich  —  banishes  the  gloom  of  night.  Go 
to  the  machine-shop,  and  you  will  find  Philosophy  there 
at  work,  constructing  an  engine  that  enables  man  to 
fly  upon  his  journey  with  the  speed  of  the  bird.  Go 
to  another  shop,  and  you  will  find  Philosophy  there, 
constructing  a  machine  that  shall  bear  you  across  the 
Atlantic  in  a  single  fortnight.  Go  to  the  cotton  facto- 
ry, and  you  will  find  Philosophy  there  at  work,  and 
producing  a  yard  of  cotton  for  ten  cents,  which,  forty 
years  ago,  had  cost  you  five  times  that  sum. 

Thus  it  is  that  Science,  by  its  application  to  the  arts 
of  life,  by  being  put  into  the  possession  of  thousands 
of  ingenious  heads  and  hands,  is  conquering  the  great 
obstacles  of  nature.  It  is  triumphing  over  the  very 
shadows  of  night ;  it  is  cutting  away  mountains ;  anni- 
hilating distance  ;  dragging  continents,  before  separated 
by  the  barriers  of  the  deep,  into  proximity ;  enabling 
remote  nations  to  shake  hands ;  and  inhabitants  of  dis- 
tant cities  to  breakfast,  dine,  and  sup  together. 

And  now  what  is  the  summing  up  of  all  this,  —  of 
this  movement  of  nations,  —  this  mutation,  —  this  agita- 
tion ?    It  is  conveyed  in  a  single  word,  — improvement. 


•PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       311 

Society  has  not  merely  changed  its  position,  but  it 
has  made  progress.  The  condition  of  mankind  is  im- 
proved. Viewed  in  the  great  average,  man  is  better 
and  happier.  He  is  better  in  his  political,  moral,  and 
social  condition.  Although  the  cloud  of  despotism 
still  hangs  foul  and  heavy  over  many  parts  of  Chris- 
tendom, although  many  dark  vices  and  flagrant  wrongs 
live  in  the  bosom  even  of  Christendom,  yet  every- 
where human  rights  are  better  understood  and  more 
respected,  with  a  few  exceptions.  The  heart  of  the 
despot  is  either  softened  with  philanthropy^  or  touched 
with  salutary  fear.  Prisons,  as  instruments  of  tyranny, 
are  getting  out  of  fashion,  and  iron  fetters  are  not  gen- 
erally in  good  taste,  save  perchance  in  Poland.  The 
Bastile,  a  type  of  government  but  a  century  ago,  is 
only  thought  of  now  as  the  horrid  dream  of  a  departed 
age.  Public  opinion,  at  once  the  offspring  and  the 
guardian  of  liberty,  is  springing  up  everywhere  and 
becoming  the  bulwark  of  human  rights.  Every  day 
the  truth,  so  beautifully  expressed  by  Burns,  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  familiar  to  mankind  :  — 

"  The  king  may  make  a  belted  knight,  — 
A  marquis  duke  and  a'  that,  — 
But  an  lionest  man  's  aboon  his  might,  — 
Guid  faith  he  may  na  fa  that. 
The  rank  is  but  the  guinea  stamp, 
The  man  's  the  gold  for  a'  that." 

If  the  mtellectual  and  political  condition  of  the  world 
has  improved,  so  also  has  its  moral.  How  can  we  ac- 
count for  the  temperance  movement  throughout  Chris- 
tendom, but  on  the  supposition  that  there  is  a  higher 
sense  of  right  in  society,  th.an  in  former  times  .■"  Can  such 


312       PAST    AND    PKESENT    STATE    OF    THE    AVORLD. 

a  reform,  indeed,  be  achieved  without  the  diminution  of 
vice,  —  the  promotion  of  virtue,  —  the  purification  of 
morals  ?  How  can  we  account  for  the  institution  of 
the  thousand  charitable  societies  that  have  sprung  up 
within  the  last  thirty  years,  but  on  the  supposition  of  a 
more  enlightened  philanthropy  warming  the  hearts  of 
mankind.  How  can  we  account  for  the  Bible  socie- 
ties, —  the  tract  societies,  —  the  missionary  societies,  — 
sustained  as  they  are  by  the  sacrifices  of  millions,  but 
on  the  admission  of  a  deeper  feeling  of  religious  duty 
than  before.  How  can  we  account  for  the  change  in 
the  amusements  of  people,  —  the  abandonment  of  the- 
atres, taverns,  and  scenes  of  licentiousness,  for  ly- 
ceums  and  literary  associations,  —  but  upon  the  theory 
of  an  improved  moral  taste  !  And  can  these  changes 
take  place, — can  such  mighty  engines  of  moral  sua- 
sion be  brought  to  act  upon  society,  —  touching  every 
class,  and  every  individual,  from  the  highest  to  the  low- 
est,—  without  becoming  efTicicnt  in  promoting  that  im- 
provement of  whicii  they  are  at  once  the  evidence  and 
the  consequence  ? 

And,  if  the  moral:  condition  of  man  is  improved,  so 
also  are  his  means  of  happiness  increased.  Man's 
physical  power  has  been  at  least  doubled  within  the 
last  forty  years.  The  whole  force  of  labor  employed 
in  commerce  and  manufactures  alone,  in  Great  Britain, 
is  about  equal  to  that  of  five  millions  of  men.  The 
steam-engine,  which  has  been  brought  into  operation 
almost  wholly  within  the  present  century,  in  connection 
with  machinery,  nearly  equals  all  the  direct  human 
power  of  the  kingdom.  It  would  seem  probable  from 
these  premises,  that  the  steam-engine  alone,  in  applica- 


PAST    AND   PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       313 

lion  to  all  branches  of  labor,  within  the  last  forty  years, 
has  increased  the  power  of  man  at  least  fourfold.  It 
would  probably  not  be  overstating  the  fact,  that  in  Great 
Britain,  the  power  of  man  is  increased  by  the  aid  of 
modern  improvements  in  machinery  at  least  tenfold ; 
and  although  there  has  not  been  an  equal  progress  in 
other  European  countries,  still,  on  the  whole,  our  as- 
sumption that  man's  physical  power  is  doubled  within 
the  present  century  falls  far  short  of  the  fact. 

And  as  man's  physical  power  has  increased,  so,  on 
the  average,  will  a  man's  labor  produce  twice  the 
amount  of  comforts  and  luxuries  in  1845  that  it 
would  have  done  in  1745.  While  the  wages  of  labor, 
the  rewards  of  every  species  of  industry,  are  in- 
creased, many  of  the  articles  we  need  are  cheapened, 
while  few  are  increased  in  price.  This  being  the  fact, 
the  scale  of  comfort,  the  style  of  living,  with  the 
mass  is  greatly  improved. 

Thus  it  is  that  man's  condition,  on  the  broad  scale,  is 
improved  and  improving ;  his  acknowledged  political 
rights  are  become  more  ample,  and  his  rights  more 
secure  ;  his  moral  standing  has  become  more  exalted  ; 
his  mental  scope  is  enlarged  ;  his  physical  ability  has 
increased ;  his  enjoyments  multiplied.  Human  life  is 
daily  becoming  a  thing  of  more  account ;  each  man's 
stake  in  existence  is  acquiring  a  higher  value. 

Such  is  the  general  aspect  of  human  affairs,  —  as 
presented  by  that  brief  but  pregnant  page  of  history 
that  has  fallen  within  our  survey.  On  the  surface  of 
the  stream,  everywhere,  there  is  a  change,  —  muta- 
tion,—  succession.  "Wave  follows  wave,  —  generation 
follows  generation.  But  while  there  is  change,  there 
XX.— 27 


314      PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

is  advancement.  Agitation  is  the  characteristic  of  mod- 
ern times ;  and  Improvement  is  the  result.  And  now, 
what  is  the  great  instrument  of  this  agitation,  —  this 
advancement.'  What  is  that  which  is  producing  or 
e.xciting  this  fermentation  of  the  elements,  and  drawing 
from  it  a  new  and  better  crystallization  of  society  } 

The  answer  is  easily  given  ;  —  it  is  the  Press,  —  the 
instrument  by  which  human  knowledge  is  recorded  and 
disseminated.  It  is  the  Printing  Press,  which  speaks 
with  a  thousand  tongues,  —  which  carries  light  every- 
where, —  which  analyzes  all  things,  —  which  penetrates 
all  things,  —  which  has  become  a  lever  of  more  power 
than  that  which  Archimedes  dreamed.  It  is  a  lever 
that  not  only  moves  the  world,  but  while  it  moves,  it 
also  benefits  mankind.  It  agitates,  —  it  ploughs  up  the 
surface  of  society,  but  it  produces  in  the  place  of  weeds 
the  legitimate  and  useful  fruits  of  cultivation.  It  some- 
times sweeps  and  rends  like  the  tempest,  but  it  purifies 
the  air,  and  gives  the  shrub  and  tree  and  flower  its  re- 
freshing rain.  It  brings  good  from  what  might  seem 
to  be  evil,  and,  as  it  leaves  each  successive  genera- 
tion better,  wiser,  and  happier,  it  may  reconcile  us  to 
that  otherwise  disheartening  fluctuation,  which  is  written 
on  the  face  of  all  human  things. 

The  history  of  the  press  is  in  the  highest  degree  in- 
teresting ;  at  the  same  time,  it  is  familiar  to  most  read- 
ers. It  is  not  necessary  to  our  purpose  to  do  more 
than  give  it  a  very  general  notice. 

Of  the  several  European  claimants  to  the  invention 
of  printing,  Guttenburgh  seems  entitled  to  the  prefer- 
ence ;  and  it  would  appear  that  he  had  succeeded  in  his 
experiment  about  the  year  1444.    In  1455,  he  produced 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       315 

his  forty-two  lined  Bible,  as  it  is  called,  because  each 
column  consisted  of  just  forty-two  lines.  Faustus,  one 
of  his  partners,  after  separating  from  him,  devoted 
himself  to  the  printing  of  Latin  and  German  Bibles, 
It  was  matter  of  astonishment  that  he  could  produce 
them  with  such  celerity,  for,  before,  books  were  only 
written  with  the  pen.  In  those  days,  a  copy  of  the  Bi- 
ble was  worth  a  good  house  and  farm,  and  the  monks, 
Avho  derived  considerable  sums  from  writing  them, 
f  eeking  to  turn  the  current  against  Faustus,  attributed 
his  invention  to  the  assistance  of  the  Devil.  When 
Faustus  paid  a  visit  to  Paris  to  dispose  of  his  books,  the 
charge  of  sorcery  was  raised  against  him,  and  to  save 
his  life,  he  suddenly  disappeared  from  the  city.  This 
gave  rise  to  the  popular  legend,  that  he  was  carried  off 
by  his  sable  Majesty.  The  partnership  firm  of  "  The 
Devil  and  Dr.  Faustus  "  is  familiar,  even  in  our  day. 

The  invention  of  printing  was  kept  secret  for  a  time, 
but  about  the  year  1462,  several  of  the  workmen  who 
1  ad  been  employed  by  the  originators  of  the  art,  at 
Mentz,  established  presses  in  different  parts  of  Germa- 
ny, and  also  in  Italy  and  France.  From  this  period,  it 
rapidly  extended  itself  over  Europe,  and  has  ever  since 
been  making  progress  as  well  in  the  facility  and  cheap- 
ness with  which  printing  is  performed,  as  in  the  beauty 
and  perfection  of  its  execution.  Within  the  last  thirty 
years,  immense  strides  have  been  made  in  these  i-e- 
spects.  The  casting  of  types  has  been  greatly  accel- 
erated ;  machine  presses  have  been  invented,  and 
steam,  the  great  worker  of  the  present  day,  has  been 
applied  to  them  with  complete  success. 

A  few  simple  details  will  show  an  almost  miraculous 


316      PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

change  which  has  thus  been  produced  in  the  art  of 
making  books.  An  expert  mechanic  will  now  cast  five 
thousand  letters  in  a  day.  A  good  compositor  will  set 
up  seven  thousand,  that  is,  about  six  common  octavo 
pages,  in  the  same  space  of  time.  When  these  pages 
are  once  composed,  an  almost  endless  number  of  im- 
pressions may  be  struck  off.  By  the  common  hand- 
press,  which  was  wholly  in  use  twenty  years  ago,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  impressions  may  be  taken  in  an  hour  ; 
but  by  the  steam-press,  four  thousand  impressions  may 
be  thrown  off  in  that  space  of  time.  Such  is  the 
amazing  celerity  of  the  process  of  printing,  that  in  two 
hours  after  a  British  steam-packet  arrives,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  news  she  brings,  occupying  a  newspaper 
page  of  close  matter,  and  detailing  th^  doings  of  an 
entire  hemisphere  for  several  weeks,  is  spread  before 
the  public,  and  the  sheets  are  sold  at  a  cent  apiece  ! 

In  six  days  after  a  copy  of  a  book  is  received, —  the 
product  it  may  be  of  the  first  minds  in  Christendom, — 
it  is  published  here,  and  sold  for  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  !  Of  this,  a  mechanic  may  buy  ten  copies  for  one 
day's  work.  Such  are  the  wonderful  results  of  the 
invention  of  the  art  of  prmting.  Let  us  look  at  this 
matter  attentively.  Before  this  invention,  that  is  four 
hundred  years  ago,  all  books  were  written  with  a  pen. 
A  copy  of  the  Bible  required  four  years  of  severe  labor 
for  its  production.  And,  after  all,  how  inferior  in 
beauty  and  ease  of  perusal  is  the  written  to  the  printed 
copy  ! 

Such,  then,  are  the  amazing  consequences,  —  that 
before  the  art  of  printing,  a  book  which  now  costs  fifty 
cents,  and  which  involves  an  expenditure  of  but   one 


PAST    AKD    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WOPlLD.       317 

hour's  lime  for  its  production,  required  four  years  ! 
Thus,  by  the  aid  of  mechanical  invention,  man's  phys- 
ical power  is  Increased  more  than  five  thousand  fold. 
A  man  to-day  may  produce  five  thousand  times  as 
great  results  by  the  labor  of  his  hands  as  he  could  have 
done  four  hundred  years  ago ;  and  let  us  reflect  that 
this  advantage  is  applied  to  the  noblest  of  all  purposes, 
—  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  dissemination  of 
intellectual  and  moral  light.  It  is  applied  to  the  teach- 
ing of  human  rights  and  social  obligations. 

There  are  some  persons  of  the  laboring  class,  who 
look  upon  all  inventions  with  distrust ;  who  regard  labor- 
saving  machines  with  aversion,  as  if  they  were  conspir- 
acies against  them.  Is  it  an  injury  to  the  laborer  that 
his  power  should  be  increased  five  thousand  fold } 
Look  at  the  simple  fact ;  —  a  mechanic,  by  his  wages 
for  a  single  day,  may  buy  for  himself,  his  family,  or  his 
children,  as  many  books  as  would  have  cost  twelve 
years  of  labor  in  former  times  !  A  week's  work  now, 
at  any  common  trade,  would  buy  the  whole  lifetime 
of  a  man,  and  that  man  a  scholar,  four  hundred  years 
ago.  Is  this  an  evil  ?  Let  no  one  be  deluded  by  such 
idle  and  absurd  fancies.  The  inventions  of  modern 
times  are  blessings  and  benedictions  to  every  member 
of  society,  and  to  none  more  than  those  who  choose,  as 
their  vocation  in  life,  the  labor  of  the  hands.  And 
among  all  inventions  this  which  we  are  considering  is 
the  greatest  and  the  best.  It  is  through  the  application 
of  science  to  art,  —  it  is  through  the  copartnership  of 
head-work  and  hand-work,  —  that  knowledge  has  be- 
come the  common  property  of  mankind,  —  free  as  the 
vital  air.  It  is  by  the  union  of  intellectual  and  moral 
27* 


318      PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE  WORLD. 

labor,  that  knowledge,  formerly  shut  up  in  cloisters 
and  hidden  from  the  world,  is  now  made  to  flow  forth 
as  abundantly  as  the  waters  of  springs  and  rivers. 

The  art  of  manufacturing  paper  has  advanced  with 
the  art  of  printing.  Not  more  than  thirty  years  ago, 
machines  for  paper-making  were  first  adopted,  and 
now  they  are  in  general  use.  By  means  of  these,  a 
roll  of  paper  a  mile  in  length,  and  of  any  required 
width,  may  be  produced.  Such  is  the  celerity  of  the 
manufacture,  that  a  single  mill  will  now  yield  a  hun- 
dred reams  a  day.  You  may  give  your  order  for  that 
quantity  on  Monday,  and  on  Thursday,  —  that  is  in  four 
days,  —  if  your  necessities  require  such  haste,  it  may  be 
delivered.  Some  of  the  sheets  produced  by  the  mills 
in  our  vicinity  are  five  and  a  half  by  sixteen  feet,  and 
contain  176  square  feet  of  surface.  The  paper  manu- 
factured at  a  single  mill  in  a  single  day,  if  spread  out, 
would  cover  four  acres  and  a  half  of  ground;  —  ten 
days'  work  would  cover  Boston  Common  ! 

Such  is  the  brief  and  rapid  sketch  of  the  progress  of 
the  several  arts  connected  with  the  press,  —  that  instru- 
ment by  which  human  knowledge  is  recorded  and  dif- 
fused ;  that  power  which  is  bi'inging  all  things,  new 
and  old,  —  opinions,  theories,  —  human  thoughts  and 
human  institutions,  —  to  the  crucible,  and  testing  them 
by  the  fiery  ordeal  of  free  discussion. 

Let  us  make  a  brief  application  of  these  facts  to  the 
subject  under  review.  Printing  is  but  a  mode  of 
speech  ;  yet  it  is  speaking  with  a  thousand  tongues.  It 
is  not  merely  speaking  to  the  narrow  circle  around  us 
and  within  earshot,  but  to  the  myriads  that  compose  the 
boundless  republic  of  letters.      It  is  not  speaking  only 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.      319 

to  the  generation  of  to-day,  but  to  the  generations  that 
rise,  wave  after  wave,  upon  the  shoreless  sea  of  time. 
Shakspeare,  though  he  has  slept  in  his  tomb  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  still  speaks,  and  the  echoes  of  his 
inspired  voice  are  multiplying  with  the  advance  of 
years,  and  the  increase  of  the  world's  population. 
Shakspeare  still  lives.  Every  day  his  power  increases, — 
every  day  he  is  becoming  more  familiar  to  mankind, — 
every  day  he  is  enlarging  his  acquaintance,  and  stoop- 
ing from  the  exclusiveness  of  former  times  to  compan- 
ionship with  the  cottage  and  the  cabin.  There  are 
probably  forty  thousand  volumes  of  his  works  published 
every  year.  There  cannot  be  less  than  a  million  of 
his  volumes  now  in  existence  ;  and  what  must  be  the 
effect  on  the  world  of  a  million  Shakspeares  thus 
speaking  to  mankind  .'' 

About  twenty  years  since,  Mrs.  Hannah  More  told 
the  writer  of  these  pages,  that  one  million  copies  of  her 
work  —  "The  Village  Politician"  —  were  published  in 
a  single  year.  Mr.  Ballantine,  Sir  Walter  Scott's  pub- 
lisher, stated  about  the  same  period,  that  he  had  forty 
thousand  volumes  of  the  several  works  of  that  author 
then  in  press.  The  whole  number  of  volumes  of  Sir 
Walter's  works  printed  within  the  last  forty  years 
amounts  to  at  least  five  millions !  and  probably  these 
may  have  been  read  by  four  times  that  number  of  per- 
sons. Think  of  the  impulse  given  to  the  world  by  such 
a  man  thus  speaking  to  an  audience  of  twenty  million? 
of  people  ! 

The  extent  of  the  book  operations  of  the  present  day 
is  immense,  and  its  effect  on  society  must  be  beyond 
conception.     The  amount  of  books  sent  annually  from 


320   PAST  AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  "U'ORLD. 

the  Eastern  States  across  the  Alleghanies  is  over  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars.  The  whole  production  of  the  trade  here, 
we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  ;  but  several  millions 
of  volumes  are  published  each  year.  All  this  is  exclu- 
sive of  the  magazines,  some  of  which  issue  300,000 
numbers  a  year.  It  is  probable  that  the  entire  annual 
aggregate  is  not  less  than  three  millions  of  numbers. 
To  this  we  must  add  the  operations  of  the  newspaper 
press.  The  whole  number  of  newspapers  in  the  United 
States  is  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred,  —  and  the  whole 
number  of  sheets  annually  issued  cannot  be  much  less 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions ! 

Such  is  the  press  in  a  single  countr}',  —  and  in  order 
to  comprehend  its  power,  let  us  look  a  moment  at  the 
process  of  its  operation  upon  society.  Let  each  one 
judge  for  himself.  What  is  the  influence  upon  your 
own  mmd  of  the  newspaper  that  comes  to  you,  daily 
or  weekly  ?  If  it  be  political,  does  it  not  become  your 
schoolmaster,  gradually  but  surely  training  your 
thoughts,  opinions,  and  feelings  into  affinity  with  its 
own?  Does  it  not  win  your  confidence,  —  obtain  the 
mastery  over  your  mind,  and  become  at  last  your  ora- 
cle >  Do  you  not  by  aptitude,  by  habit,  believe  its 
statements,  adopt  its  views,  imbibe  its  feelings  ?  And 
if  this  be  so,  what  must  be  the  effect  on  a  nation  of 
one  hundred  millions  of  sheets  annually  distributed 
among  the  people,  and  thus  electrifying  the  whole  mass. 

And  is  not  the  effect  of  the  religious  periodical  the 
same  ?  Does  not  this,  if  taken  into  the  family,  exert  a 
similar  influence  ?  And  the  literary  periodical,  —  does 
not  this,  too,  control  our  opinions,  shape  our  feelings, 
and  mould  or  modify  our  taste  ?     Nor  is  the  influence 


PAST   AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       321 

of  books  of  inferior  force.  How  many  a  youth  has  had 
liis  whole  soul  roused  to  an  irresistible  desire  to  follow 
the  sea,  by  reading  the  enchanting  tale  of  Robinson 
Crusoe.  How  many  a  mind  has  been  driven  awreck 
upon  the  dreary  shores  of  infidelity  by  the  specious 
but  vain  philosophy  of  Voltaire  >  What  a  mighty  m- 
fluence  did  the  writings  of  Byron  exert  upon  society, 
during  the  earlier  periods  of  his  career,  fashioning  the 
literature  of  the  day,  and  changing  the  standards  of 
taste  and  morals  ?  It  is  matter  of  notoriety,  that  one  of 
the  first  novels  of  Buhver  had  the  effect  of  converting 
the  fops  of  the  day,  as  well  in  England  as  here,  into 
imitators  of  Pelham,  the  hero  of  the  story.  When 
Pope's  reputation  was  at  its  height  in  London,  he  not 
only  became  the  model  in  poetry,  but,  as  he  had  a  habit 
of  cariying  his  head  on  his  left  shoulder,  this  trick  be- 
came a  mark  of  fashion  and  gentility  in  the  higher  cir- 
cles. Stillingfleet,  in  former  times,  wore  blue  stock- 
ings, and,  being  a  man  of  high  literary  rank,  and 
member  of  a  female  literary  club,  the  term  hlue-stock- 
ing  became  the  designation  of  a  female  addicted  to 
literature. 

These  instances  show  the  power  of  books  on  the 
mind,  —  they  show  the  dominion  which  literary  genius 
exercises  over  society.  And  the  reasons  are  these. 
As  before  remarked,  printing  is  speaking,  and  we  are 
made  by  our  Creator  to  sympathize  with  speech  ;  even 
though  the  voice  and  image  of  the  speaker  be  absent, 
still  the  communion  exists,  and  exerts  its  power  upon 
us.  Beside,  there  is  a  magic  in  print,  which  casts  a 
spell  over  our  minds  and  hearts.  We  often  believe  a 
statement  in  print,  made  by  a  man  we  know,  and 
21 


322      PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    ^\OKLD. 

whose  spoken  word  we  should  reject  as  the  idle  wind. 
An  editor  of  a  newspaper,  whom  we  know  to  be  worth- 
less, profligate,  and  false,  we  still  trust  when  he  speaks 
in  print. 

That  each  individual  may  test  the  power  of  books 
over  his  own  mind,  let  him  sit  down  to  the  perusal  of 
Scott's  story  of  the  Crusaders.  How  soon  is  the  reader 
transported  to  the  sands  of  Syria,  and  by  the  aid  of  the 
enchanter  made  to  live  and  breathe  and  sympathize 
Avith  those  that  lived  eight  hundred  years  ago.  How 
completely  does  he  lose  his  own  identity,  and  give  him- 
self up  to  the  new  existence  that  is  bestowed  upon  him. 
How  willingly,  how  completely,  does  he  surrender  him- 
self to  the  guidance  of  his  master !  He  is  mounted 
upon  a  wild  horse,  and,  throwing  the  reins  upon  his 
neck,  follows,  reckless,  in  the  chase.  And  when  the 
tale  is  told,  when  the  book  is  closed,  still  what  lasting 
impressions  are  made  upon  the  reader  !  Scenes  and 
sentiments  have  been  stamped  upon  the  softened  and 
seduced  bosom,  which  time  can  never  efface. 

The  press,  then,  is  the  instrument  by  which  man 
speaks  to  his  fellow-man,  and  that,  too,  with  authority. 
It  is  the  instrument  which  genius  employs  when  it 
seeks  to  stir  the  human  heart,  and,  like  the  trumpet  of 
the  warrior,  it  adds  its  own  magic  power  to  swei.  the 
tones  of  him  who  wakes  the  blast ! 

Such  is  a  faint  and  feeble  view  of  the  press,  toiling 
with  its  myriad  hands  in  the  production  of  books, 
pamphlets,  magazines,  and  newspapers !  Let  it  be 
considered  that  these  are  speaking  to  the  world  with 
authority,  that  these  are  the  vehicles  by  which  truth, 
myriad-tongued,  is  addressing  the   nations ;  by  which 


PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       323 

liberty  in  all  lands,  and  often  through  the  grated  win- 
dows of  the  dungeon,  is  appealing  to  the  sympathy 
of  mankind  for  enlargement;  let  it  be  considered  that 
falsehood,  too,  and  vice,  and  folly,  and  delusion,  in  a 
thousand  forms,  are  wielding  the  press,  and  leading 
captive  those  whom  they  may  seduce  to  their  snares. 
IJBt  us  consider  these  things,  and  we  may  then  compass, 
m  some  degree,  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the 
subject  we  are  discussing.  We  may  see,  that  to  hu- 
man society  the  press  is  like  the  winds  of  heaven, 
sweeping  over  the  sea,  often  lashing  it  into  foam,  or 
perchance  fanning  it  with  gentle  breezes ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  causing  a  wholesome  agitation,  and  redeeming 
it  from  the  evils  which  would  fester  in  its  bosom,  if 
left  to  stagnation. 

We  cannot  now  enter  into  details  to  illustrate  and  es- 
tablish these  views,  but  it  may  be  well  to  note  a  few 
of  the  advantages  which  must  flow  from  the  extension 
of  the  press  to  which  we  have  referred.  In  the  first 
place,  it  secures  the  advancement  of  society  in  knowl- 
edge and  civilization.  Whatever  is  known  is  recorded 
in  so  many  forms,  that  no  event,  unless  it  be  one  which 
is  coextensive  with  the  surface  of  the  world,  and  which 
blots  out  mankind  from  existence,  can  quench  its  light. 
Libraries  in  many  languages  are  now  scattered  over 
the  world.  If  Europe  were  desolated  by  flood  or  fire, 
the  libraries  of  America,  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  would  still  exist,  and  perpetuate  the  arts, 
sciences,  and  philosophy  of  the  present  age.  In  the 
days  of  antiquity,  knowledge  has  flourished,  —  the  arts 
have  existed, —  philosophy  has  prevailed  ;  but  all  fliese 
have  been  lost  and  forgotten,  in  the  oblivion  of  centu- 


324   PAST  AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  AV'ORLD. 

ries,  only  because  the  destinies  of  an  empire  were, 
changed.  The  ruins  of  Egypt  unfold  to  us  a  wondrous 
revelation  ;  after  slumbering  for  thirty  centuries  in  the 
tomb,  they  now  rise  up  to  tell  us  that  human  art  and 
science  have  flourished  and  have  perished  !  But  hence- 
forward this  can  no  more  happen.  Knowledge  can 
have  no  diminution ;  it  must  advance,  increase,  accu- 
mulate, and  bear  the  world  forward  upon  its  bosom. 
The  recorded  mass  of  human  lore  insures  this,  and 
we  may  say,  that  as  certainly  as  the  collision  of  the 
flint  and  steel  elicit  light  and  heat,  so  surely  do  dis- 
cussion and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  enlighten,  el- 
evate, and  purify  mankind. 

One  of  the  processes  by  which  the  free  press  ben- 
efits society  is  that  it  begets  public  opinion,  and  gives 
this  the  means  of  making  itself  heard  and  felt.  It  in- 
troduces a  new  arena,  —  a  new  tribunal,  in  which  men 
act,  —  before  which  they  are  tried.  It  sets  up  a  new 
regulator  of  society,  and  that  the  safest  and  best  that 
has  ever  been  devised.  What  is  there  that  exerts  such 
a  power  over  the  actions  of  men  as  the  judgment  of  so- 
ciety among  which  they  live,  when  that  may  be  freely 
pronounced  through  the  press  ? 

But,  if  such  be  the  influence  of  the  press,  it  must  be 
remembered,  that,  like  any  other  instrument  given  up 
to  discretionary  exercise,  it  is  a  power  of  evil  as  well 
as  of  good, —  of  death  as  well  as  of  life.  The  responsi- 
bility, therefore,  under  which  we  use  it,  is  proportioned 
to  the  energy-  with  which  it  acts.  No  man  should 
print  a  line,  without  questioning  himself  in  the  serious 
words  of  Pope,  —  whether  it  be  such  as  "  dying,  he 
would  wish  to  blot."     What  mighty  consequences,  for 


PAST    AND   PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       325 

jood  or  ill,  liave  flowed  from  the  hasty  and  inconsid- 
erate works  of  authors!  The  celebrated  Marseilles 
[lymn,  the  ebullition  of  a  moment,  is  said  to  have  cost 
the  lives  of  a  hundred  thousand  Frenchmen.  Burns's 
"  Cotter's  Saturday  Night,"  a  poem  that  will  last  for 
ever,  was  written  for  a  stonecutter,  in  paym.ent  of  a 
tombstone  for  the  poet's  father.  How  little  did  Shak- 
speare,  after  closing  his  theatrical  career,  and  retiring 
to  his  native  village  of  Avon,  utterly  unconscious  of  the 
mighty  deeds  he  had  done, — how  Uttle  did  he  think 
of  the  consequences  for  time  and  eternity  that  would 
continue  to  flow  from  his  actions,  countless  and  cease- 
less as  the  waves  that  break  over  Niagara.  It  is  one 
of  the  incidents  of  history  that  an  Indian  of  South 
America,  while  climbing  a  mountain,  in  pursuit  of  a 
deer,  laid  hold  of  a  tree,  which  gave  way  and  disclosed 
a  mass  of  shining  silver  beneath  its  roots.  Thus  were 
discovered  the  mines  of  Potosi,  which,  while  they  have 
poured  millions  into  the  coffers  of  the  Spaniard,  have 
proved  the  tomb  of  thousands  of  the  enslaved  natives 
of  the  soil ;  and  thus  an  author  of  genius  has  often 
opened  a  mine,  as  if  by  accident,  which  has  proved  in- 
exhaustible, for  good  or  evil,  to  his  fellow-man.  A  sin- 
gle spark  of  fire,  carelessly  used,  has  often  laid  a  ciiy 
in  ashes,  and  this  affords  but  a  faint  illustration  of  the 
mischiefs  that  have  been  produced  by  a  single  line, 
or  a  single  couplet,  to  which  genius  has  communicated 
its  fire,  and  vice  its  poison. 

There  is  an  especial  degree  of  responsibility  resting 
upon  him  who  presides  over  the  periodical  press. 

"The  editor  —  a  thing  of  thousand  tongues  — 

Speaking  aloud  with  nation-stirring  lungs." 

XX.— 28 


326       i-AST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD, 

Such  un  individual  is  woriciiig  a  mighty  engine,  for 
weal  or  woe,  and  though  we  liave  admitted  that  on  the 
whole  the  press  is  a  great  blessing,  —  the  crucible  and 
the  fire  which  purify  and  exalt  society,  —  there  is  still  no 
excuse  for  him  who  abuses  it.  "  Offences  must  come, 
but  woe  to  him  by  whom  they  come."  A  man  who  pal- 
ters with  truth  in  print  multiplies  his  falsehood  by  ev- 
ery impression  he  sends  forth  ;  a  writer  who  puts  perni- 
cious principles  in  print  is  responsible  for  the  evil  he 
may  do  to  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  into 
whose  hands  they  may  fall.  Such,  in  fact,  is  the  reck- 
lessness, profligacy,  and  malice  of  many  individuals 
connected  with  the  periodical  press,  that  eminent  indi- 
viduals have  denounced  it  as  a  curse.  But  let  us  not 
confound  the  evil  with  the  good,  nor  banish  a  salutary 
institution,  because  it  may  be  abused.  Let  us  rather 
discriminate  between  the  good  and  bad,  and,  while  we 
award  honor  to  the  virtuous,  let  the  unmeasured  repro- 
bation of  society  rest  upon  the  head  of  the  manager 
of  the  periodical  press  who  uses  it  for  the  diffusion  of 
falsehood,  scandal,  vice,  and  corruption.  Let  not  the 
world  tolerate  wickedness,  because  it  may  be  cleverly 
presented,  nor  excuse  indecency,  even  if  it  be  allied 
to  wit.  There  is  no  redemption  for  vice  ;  no  amulet 
that  can  make  it  safe  to  become  familiar  with  pollution. 

The  responsibility  of  this  subject  rests  not  wholly 
with  authors,  but  partly,  nay,  mainly,  with  readers.  If 
it  be  true  that  the  book,  the  magazine,  the  newspaper, 
exerts  a  power  over  us  almost  amounting  to  destiny, 
shall  we  thoughtlessly  and  inconsiderately  read  them, 
and  thus  place  ourselves  under  their  influence  .'  Ought 
we  not  to  be  as  careful  of  the  books  and  papers  we 


PAST   AND  PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD.       327 

lead,  as  of  the  company  we  keep  ?  Nay,  o\ight  we 
not  to  be  more  circumspect  in  this  matter,  for  these 
things  exert  a  power  over  us,  for  good  or  ill,  which  is 
likely  to  be  decisive  of  our  character  and  our  career. 
Above  all,  let  fathers  and  mothers,  —  the  guides  and 
guardians  of  youth,  —  be  heedful  of  the  newspaper,  the 
magazine,  the  books  they  take  into  the  house,  to  mould 
the  mind  and  heart  of  those  whom  God  has  committed 
to  their  charge.  We  saw  it  stated  not  long  since,  in 
one  of  the  papers,  that  a  young  man,  under  conviction 
of  some  capital  offence,  and  about  to  expiate  his  crime 
upon  the  gallows,  declared  that  he  had  taken  to  crimi- 
nal courses  from  the  impressions  made  upon  his  mind 
by  reading  one  of  the  popular  novels  of  the  day.  What 
would  not  the  mother  of  that  boy  have  given,  when  she 
heard  of  his  crime,  —  when  she  heard  of  his  trial, — 
when  she  knew  of  the  painful  and  ignominious  death 
he  must  die,  —  if,  with  a  mother's  care,  she  had  kept 
that  fatal  book,  from  the  perusal  of  her  child  !  Let 
parents  be  warned  in  time.  Let  them  remember  that 
books  are  like  companions,  and  that  they  speak  with 
authority.  Let  them  remember  that  evil  communica- 
tions not  only  corrupt  good  manners,  but  that  the  heart 
itself  may  become  fatally  contaminated. 


This,  then,  is  the  summing  up  of  that  portion  of  his- 
tory which  falls  within  the  present  century  ;  —  that  the 
present  age  is  peculiarly  marked  as  one  of  mutation, — 
an  era  in  which  things  new  and  old  are  irreverently 
huddled  into  the  seething  caldron  of  opinion,  from 
which,  however,  by  the  magic  power  of  the  free  press, 


328      PAST    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

the  bright,  living  crystals  of  truth  are  made  to  shoot 
forth.  To  speak  in  terms  familiar  to  every  ear,  the 
Spirit  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  a  spirit  which  ques- 
tions all  things  ;  which  analyzes  all  things  ;  which  tries 
all  things,  and,  by  the  light  of  reason  and  common 
sense,  renders  its  verdict,  with  little  respect  to  the  past-. 
In  the  midst  of  this  movement,  and  among  its  very 
leaders,  we  may  remark  many  who  have  more  zeal 
than  discretion,  and  who  are  guided  rather  by  the 
vanity  of  being  seen  and  heard,  than  by  truth  or 
humanity.  We  may  notice  also  the  profane,  the  reck- 
less, and  the  selfish,  drifting  with  the  stream,  and,  per- 
chance, turning  its  eddies  and  ripples  to  their  own  small 
account.  These,  like  the  flies  that  light  in  the  jaws  of 
the  crocodile,  are  doomed  to  destruction.  But  it  is 
some  consolation  to  know  that  the  wrath  of  man,  now 
as  ever,  is  made  to  praise  God,  and  to  see  that  Chris- 
tianity, religion,  and  morality,  as  our  fathers  bequeathed 
them,  still  rise  above  the  tide,  and  seem  to  grow 
stronger  by  the  very  surges  that  break  against  their 
foundations. 


THE    END. 


^  ERTISEMENT— C ABS2T33T  IiIBRiLRV. 


PARLEY'S  CABINET  LIBRARY, 

For  Schools  and  Families, 

This  work  consists  of  Twenty  Volumes,  and  contains 
O'/re  hundred  different  subjects,  and  is  illustrated  bij  five 
hundred  Engravings. 

[p=  It  is  an  entirely  original  series,  recently  written  and 
completed  by  S.  G.  Goodrich,  the  author  of  Feter  Parley's 
Tales. 

[n^  This  is  the  only  library  that  has  been  expressly  written 
for  a  School  and  Family  Library.  It  is  adopted  into  many  of 
the  libraries  of  the  leading  schools  and  seminaries  in  New 
England  and  New  York,  and  has  been  introduced,  in  the 
space  of  a  few  months,  into  more  than  three  thousand  fami- 
lies, in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Volumes,  each  containing 
about  320  pages,  16mo. :  — 

BIOGRAPHICAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Vol    1.  —  Lives  of  Famous  Men  of  Modern  Times. 

"     2. —  Lives  of  Famous  Men  of  Ancient  Times. 

«f     3.  —  Curiosities  of  Human  Nature  ;  or.  The  Lives 
of  Eccentric  and  Wonderful  Persons. 

n    4  — Lives   of    Benefactors;    including  Patriots, 
Inventors,   Discoverers,  «&c. 

cc     5.  —  Lives  of  Famous  American  Indians. 

"     6.  —  Lives  of  Celebrated  Women. 

HISTORICAL  DEPARTMENT. 

«t     7.  —  Lights  and  Shadows  of  American  History. 

"     8.  —  Lights  and  Shadows  of  European  History. 

«c     9. —  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Asiatic  History. 

"  10.  —  Lights  and  Shadows  of  African  History. 

"  11.  —  History  of  the  American  Indians. 

«  12.  —  Manners,  Customs,  and   Antiquities    of    thk 
American  Indians. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

««  13.  —  A  Glance  at  the  Sciences,  Astronomy,  Natu» 

RAL  Philosophy,  &c. 
«»  14.  —  Wonders  of  Geology. 

((  15. Anecdotes   of  the  Animal  Kingdom. 

((  16.  —  A   Glance   at   Philosophy,  Mental,  Moral, 

AND  Social. 
«(  17. —  Book  of  Literature,  Ancient   and    Modzsn, 

with  Specimens. 


ADVERTISSIflZSITT— CABIirZST  I.IBRiLIl7. 

Vol.18.  —  E.NTERPRisE,  Industry,  and  Art  of  Man. 

"  19.  —  Manners  and  Customs  of  all  Nations. 

"  20.  —  The  World  and  its  Inhabitants. 

QU'  These  works  are  designed  to  exhibit,  in  a  popular 
form.  Select  Biographies,  Ancient  and  Modern;  the 
Wonders  and  Curiosities  of  History,  Nature,  Art,  Sci- 
ence, AND  Philosophy,  with  the  Practical  Duties  of  Life. 

It  cannot  be  deemed  invidious  to  say,  that  no  similar  work 
has  met  with  equal  favor  at  the  hands  of  the  public,  as  the 
following  testimonials,  among  many  others,  will  show  :  — 

The  Hon.  H.  O.  Otis,  of  Boston,  says, 
I  view  Has  the  best  compendium  of  useful  learning  and  information,  re- 
specting its  proposed  contents,  fur  the  use  of  young  persons  and  schoolSf 
that  has  fallen  within  my  knowledge.  It  abounds  in  illustrations  of  the 
history  of  tlie  world,  and  the  customs  and  manners  of  nations,  that  may  be 
read  by  general  scholars  of  any  age,  with  pleasure. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague  says,  Albany, 
I  regard  the  Cabinet  Library  as  a  most  important  accession  to  the  means 
of  intellectual  and  moral  culture,  especially  in  respect  to  the  rising  genera- 
tion. But  while  it  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  young,  it  may  be  read  by 
persons  of  any  age  with  both  pleasure  and  profit.  'I'o  men  of  business,  who 
have  not  leisure  to  read  extensively,  and  indeed  to  all  who  would  keep  up 
with  the  times,  the  work  is  invaluable.  It  is  also  suited  to  the  various 
members  of  tlie  family  circle,  ^^CT  and  is  among  the  very  best  of  the  libraries 
for  public  schools.  I  learn  that  it  is  introduced  into  the  public  schools  o( 
this  city,  (Albany,)  and  various  other  places,  and  1  cannot  doubt  that  it 
will  ultimately  be  adopted  in  our  seminaries  of  learning  generally. 

Charles  Sprague,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  says, 
I  have  read,  with  both  pleasure  and  profit,  all  the  numbers  of  your  very 
instructive  Cabinet  Library.  My  friend  and  namesake,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague, 
has  so  exactly  expressed  my  opinion  of  the  work,  tliat  I  need  only  adopt 
his  language,  in  recommending  it,  as  I  cheerfully  do,  to  the  favorable 
attention  of  both  teachers  and  learners. 

From  the  Quincy  Patriot, 

We  recommend  it  (Parley's  Cabinet  Library)  as  peculiarly  valuable  to 
families.  We  often  see  one  young  man  taking  precedence  of  others  in  the 
race  of  life.  If  we  could  read  his  history  minutely,  we  should  see  the 
explanation  of  the  case  to  be,  that  he  had  a  better  bead  or  a  belter  heart 
than  others.  Now  we  know  of  no  works  so  well  calculated  to  mould  the 
head  and  heart  aright  as  those  of  "  Peter  Parley." 

Those  parents  who  wish  to  have  their  children  "  go  ahead  "  in  life, 
should  place  Parley's  Cabinet  Library  within  their  reach.  We  have  never 
seen  a  work  better  suited  to  bestow  instruction,  or  that  inculcates  truth  in 
a  more  pleasant  fashion. 

From  the  Boston  Courier, 
They  are  exceedingly  agreeable  books,  and  such  as  young  and  old  may 
peruse  with  pleasure  and  profit.  The  moral  and  religious  account  to  which 
the  author  turns  every  subject  must  render  the  work  peculiarly  suitable 
10  the  family  and  the  school  library.  We  cheerfully  commend  the  work 
to  the  public  as  one  of  sterling  value. 

From  the  Boston  Atlas, 
It  is  a  compact  family  and  school  library  of  substantial  reading;  which  la 
delightful  in  point  of  style,  and  wholesome  in  its  moral,  social,  and  religieuf 
tendency 


ADVERTISEMENT— CABINET  ZiIBRARir. 

From  the  Boston  Post, 

We  hardly  know  when  we  liave  been  better  pleased  with  a  publica- 
tion than  this. 

From  Hunt''s  Merchants  Magazine, 

This  worit,  now  complete,  is  the  most  elaborate  of  the  works  of  the  ai»- 
thor  for  the  young  ;  and  we  think  it  quite  the  best.  It  is  a  lihraj^  vf  facts^ 
and  seems  intended  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  tliis  kind  of  reading.  It  is  said 
that  "truth  is  stranger  than  fiction,"  and  no  one  who  has  perused  these 
pages  can  feel  any  necessity  for  seeking  excitement  in  the  high-wrought 
pages  of  romance.  Every  subject  touched  by  the  autlior  seems  invested 
with  a  lively  interest;  and  even  dry  statistics  are  made,  like  steel  be- 
neath the  -strokes  of  the  flint,  to  yield  sparks  calculated  to  kindle  the  mind. 
In  treating  of  the  iron  manufacture,  — a  rather  hard  subject,  it  would  seem, 

we  are  told  that,  every  "  working  day,  tifty  millions  of  nails  are  made, 

bought,  sold,  and  used  in  the  United  States  ;  "  and,  in  speaking  of  the  man- 
ufacture of  cotton,  we  are  informed  that  the  Merrimack  mills  of  Lowell 
alone  "spin  a  thread  of  sufficient  length  to  belt  the  world,  at  the  equator, 
in  two  hours." 

The  work  was  doubtless  intended  for  the  young  ;  and  we  think  it  quite 
equal,  for  tliis  object,  to  any  thing  that  has  been  produced  ;  yet  it  is  also 
suited  to  the  perusal  of  all  classes,  especially  to  men  of  business,  who  find 
little  leisure  for  reading,  and  who  yet  are  unwilling  to  be  left  behind  in 
the  great  march  of  knowledge  and  improvemen*,.  Jis  there  is  now  a  strong  de- 
sire, especially  among  the  enlightened  friends  of  education  in  this  state,  to  have 
the,  common  sclioids  supplied  with  suitable  books  for  libraries,  we  heartily  com- 
ntend  this  series  to  the  notice  of  all  who  are  desirous  of  obtaining  books  for 
this  object.  They  are  unquestionably  among  the  best  that  haoe  been  prepared 
for  school  libraries,  being  every  way  attractive  and  instructive. 

No  one  can  fail  to  be  pleased  with  the  simplicity  and  elegance  of  the 
style,  and  with  the  vein  of  cheerfulness,  humanity,  and  morality,  which 
runs  through  the  pages  of  the  volumes.  The  moral  inlluence  of  the  work, 
especially  upon  the  young,  cannot  fail  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  etfective 
and  salutary. 

From  the  Troy  Whig, 

They  are  written  in  an  easy  and  graceful  style,  and  are  compiled  from 
the  mojt  authentic  sources.     They  will  be  found  highly  attractive  to  young 
people  of  both  sexes,  and  worthy  to  be  read  by  persons  of  mature  age. 
From  the  .Albany  Advertiser. 

It  would  he  difficult  to  find  any  where,  in  such  convenient  compasa. 
so  much  healthy  and  palatable  food  for  the  youthful  mind  as  is  furnished 
by  Parley's  Cabinet  Library. 

From  the  Albany  Argus. 

We  know  of  no  series  of  volumes  on  kindred  subjects  so  good  as  these 
for  parents  to  put  into  the  hands  of  their  children.  It  is  due  not  only  to 
the  author,  who  has  rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of  American  lit- 
erature, but  to  the  work  itself,  and  to  the  best  interests  of  the  youth  cf  our 
nation,  that  these  volumes  should  be  scattered  all  over  the  land. 
From  the  JVeio  England  Puritan. 

We  cordially  recommend  the  work  to  the  perusal  of  all. 
From  the  Boston  Post, 

The  very  best  work  of  its  class  is  Parley's  Cabinet  Library.  It  combines 
a  vast  deal  of  useful  information,  conveyed  in  an  exceedingly  interesting 
style.  The  beauty  of  the  typographical  execution,  the  cheapness  of  the 
volumes,  and  the  great  intrinsic  merit  of  llieir  contents,  must  render  the 
work  one  of  general  popularity. 

From  the  Boston  Courier, 

As  we  have  quoted  so  largely  from  Mr.  Goodrich's  work,  we  ought  to 
Bay -what  it  richly  merits  —  that  it  is  a  pleasing  and  useful  seties,  acd 


ikD^ETERTISEBIE^T— Cja.BINET  IiIBHAR'y. 

that  it  is  calculated  not  only  to  instruct  and  amuse,  but  to  cultivate  virtu 
ous  and  patriotic  sentiments.  With  tiiose  who  read  for  mere  aiau.sement, 
it  is  worthy  of  attention,  for  the  author  has  ingeniously  contrived  to  giv« 
irutli  ail  tiie  charms  of  fiction. 

From  the  Albany  Mdvertiscr. 

h  ought  to  be,  and  no  doubt  will  be,  extensively  introduced  into  schoola 
From  the  Bay  State  Democrat, 

The  volumes  are  illustrated  witli  spirited  wood  engravings,  and  printed 
in  Dickinson's  neatest  style.  Altogether,  they  present  decidedly  tlie  most 
attractive  appearance  as  to  matter  and  form,  of  any  worlcs  we  have  seen  for 
a  long  time. 

From  the  Quincy  Aurora. 

Parley's  Cabinet  Library  is  a  publication  of  rare  excellence.  No  writer 
of  the  present  day  invests  the  themes  of  which  he  treats  with  livelier  inter- 
est than  the  well-known  Peter  Parley.  His  pen  imparts  to  hi.-itory  and  biog- 
raphy the  charm  of  romance  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  unfolds  rich  and 
enduring  treasures  of  practical  and  useful  knowledge. 

The  animal,  the  mineral,  and  vegetable  kingdoms  of  nature  present, 
beneath  ills  pencil,  the  attractions  of  a  grand  museum.  'J'he  publication 
of  his  Cabinet  Library  will  accomplish  much,  in  our  opinion,  to  eradicate 
the  eagerness  for  fiction  which  engrosses  so  extensively  tlie  public  mmd. 
The  perusal  of  these  volumes  will  convince  the  reader  that  reality  has 
charms  as  potent,  and  far  more  satisfying  than  those  of  the  ideal  world. 
We  know  of  no  work,  comprehended  within  equal  limits,  capable  of  aflbrd- 
iiig  richer  intellectual  banqueting. 

From  the  Boston  Traveller. 
We  deem  it  but  a  discharge  of  our  duty  to  our  readers,  to  urge  this  val- 
uable series  upon  their  attention.     The  whole  series  will  cost  but  a  trifle, 
yet  they  may  and  doubtless  will  be  the  deciding  means  of  insuring  suc- 
cess in  life  to  many  a  youth  who  shall  enjoy  the  means  of  reading  tbem. 

From  the  Boston  Recorder. 
They  are  written  in  a  pleasing  style,  and  are  enlivened  by  numerous 
characteristic  anecdotes.     The  series  will  form  a  very  valuable  library. 

From  the  Boston  Post, 

It  is  an  admirable  publication  for  the  family  and  school  library.  Its  top- 
j<",s  are  interesting  and  important,  and  presented  in  a  simple  but  elFective 
Btyle. 

From  the  Boston  Atlas, 

Parley's  Cabinet  Library  is  worthy  of  all  encouragement.  It  is  cheap 
not  only  in  promise,  but  in  fact.  It  is  also  calculated  to  exercise  a  whole- 
some influence.  Like  every  thing  from  the  same  author,  it  strongly  in- 
culcates virtue  and  religion,  and  at  the  same  time  it  arrays  truth  in  a  guise 
so  comely  and  attractive,  that  it  is  likely  to  win  many  votaries  of  fiction 
to  com^ianionship  with  it.    There  is  great  need  of  such  works  at  this  time 

Board  of  Education,        ) 
City  of  Rochester,  Sept.  2.  j 

Whereas,  the  Board  of  Education  have  examined  a  series  of  books 
called  "  Parley's  Cabinet  Library,"  now  in  course  of  publication  by  Samuel 
G.  Goodrich,  Esq.,  (tiie  celebrated  Peter  Parley,)  embracing,  in  the  coursa 
of  twenty  volumes,  the  various  subjects  of  history,  biografihy,  geography, 
the  manners  and  customs  of  difl'erent  nations,  the  condition  of  the  arts, 
sciences,  &c. ;  and  whereas,  this  Board  are  satisfied  that  the  same  are  high- 
ly useful  to  the  young  :  therefore. 

Resolved,  that  we  recommend  that  the  same  be  procured  by  trustees  for 
the  several  school  libraries,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period.  A  true  copy 
<  the  minutes,  I.  F.  Macf,  Sup't 


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